Professor Amanda Cooper-Sarkar

Abstract:

The production of single top quarks and top antiquarks via the t-channel exchange of a virtual W boson is measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC using 140 fb−1 of ATLAS data. The total cross-sections are determined to be σtq=137−8+8 pb and σt¯q=84−5+6 pb for top-quark and top-antiquark production, respectively. The combined cross-section is found to be σtq+t¯q=221−13+13 pb and the cross-section ratio is Rt=σtq/σt¯q=1.636−0.034+0.036. The predictions at next-to-next-to-leading-order in quantum chromodynamics are in good agreement with these measurements. The predicted value of Rt using different sets of parton distribution functions is compared with the measured value, demonstrating the potential to further constrain the functions when using this result in global fits. The measured cross-sections are interpreted in an effective field theory approach, setting limits at the 95% confidence level on the strength of a four-quark operator and an operator coupling the third quark generation to the Higgs boson doublet: −0.37 0.95 at the 95% confidence level is derived from the measured value of σtq+t¯q, assuming that the Wtb interaction is a left-handed weak coupling and that |Vtb| ≫ |Vtd|, |Vts|. In a more general approach, pairs of CKM matrix elements involving top quarks are simultaneously constrained, leading to confidence contours in the corresponding two-dimensional parameter spaces.

Abstract:

A search for events with one top quark and missing transverse momentum in the final state is presented. The fully hadronic decay of the top quark is explored by selecting events with a reconstructed boosted top-quark topology produced in association with large missing transverse momentum. The analysis uses 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV recorded during 2015-2018 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in the context of simplified models for Dark Matter particle production and the single production of a vector-like T quark. Without significant excess relative to the Standard Model expectations, 95% confidence-level upper limits on the corresponding cross-sections are obtained. The production of Dark Matter particles in association with a single top quark is excluded for masses of a scalar (vector) mediator up to 4.3 (2.3) TeV, assuming mχ = 1 GeV and the model couplings λq = 0.6 and λχ = 0.4 (a = 0.5 and gχ = 1). The production of a single vector-like T quark is excluded for masses below 1.8 TeV assuming a coupling to the top quark κT = 0.5 and a branching ratio for T → Zt of 25%.