Search for top partners with charge 5e/3

A feasibility study of searches for top partners with charge 5e/3 at the upgraded Large Hadron Collider is performed. The discovery potential and exclusion limits are presented using integrated luminosities of 300 fb$^{-1}$ and 3000 fb$^{-1}$ at center-of-mass energies of 14 and 33 TeV

Top-Quark Physics at the LHC

We report on the precision determination of the top-quark mass to next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD in well-defined renormalization schemes using data from the Large Hadron Collider for single-top and top-quark pair production. We also discuss the calibration of the so-called Monte Carlo top-quark mass parameter which is determined from a comparison to events with top-quark decay products. The implications of the measured value of the top-quark mass for conclusions about the stability of the electroweak vacuum state of our Universe are illustrated. At future lepton colliders, we provide for the first time matched exclusive calculations valid both at the top threshold and in the continuum, also fully differentially. In addition, we calculate fully off-shell top-pair production (also with an associated Higgs boson) at next-to-leading order in QCD, which allows to extract the top-Yukawa coupling with an unprecedented precision.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Part of the final report of the Collaborative Research Center 676 "Particles, Strings and the Early Universe" 2006 - 201

Top Partner Discovery in the T→tZT\to tZ channel at the LHC

In this paper we study the discovery potential of the LHC run II for heavy vector-like top quarks in the decay channel to a top and a $Z$ boson. Despite the usually smaller branching ratio compared to charged-current decays, this channel is rather clean and allows for a complete mass reconstruction of the heavy top. The latter is achieved in the leptonic decay channel of the $Z$ boson and in the fully hadronic top channel using boosted jet and jet substructure techniques. To be as model-independent as possible, a simplified model approach with only two free parameters has been applied. The results are presented in terms of parameter space regions for $3\sigma$ evidence or $5\sigma$ discovery for such new states in that channel.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, version 2 updated to JHEP 01 (2015) 08

Limits on Fourth Generation Fermions

We present recent results on searches for the fourth generation quarks performed at the CMS and ATLAS experiments at LHC.Comment: Presented at the 2013 Flavor Physics and CP Violation (FPCP-2013), Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 19-24 2013, 8 pages, 7 figures, updated reference

Implications of a High-Mass Diphoton Resonance for Heavy Quark Searches

Heavy vector-like quarks coupled to a scalar $S$ will induce a coupling of this scalar to gluons and possibly (if electrically charged) photons. The decay of the heavy quark into $Sq$, with $q$ being a Standard Model quark, provides, if kinematically allowed, new channels for heavy quark searches. Inspired by naturalness considerations, we consider the case of a vector-like partner of the top quark. For illustration, we show that a singlet partner can be searched for at the 13$\,$TeV LHC through its decay into a scalar resonance in the $2\gamma+\ell + X$ final states, especially if the diphoton branching ratio of the scalar $S$ is further enhanced by the contribution of non coloured particles. We then show that conventional heavy quark searches are also sensitive to this new decay mode, when $S$ decays hadronically, by slightly tightening the current selection cuts. Finally, we comment about the possibility of disentangling, by scrutinising appropriate kinematic distributions, heavy quark decays to $St$ from other standard decay modes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures and 1 table; v3: typos fixed. Matches published versio

Production of extra quarks decaying to Dark Matter beyond the Narrow Width Approximation at the LHC

This paper explores the effects of finite width in processes of pair production of an extra heavy quark with charge 2/3 (top partner) and its subsequent decay into a bosonic Dark Matter (DM) candidate -- either scalar or vector -- and SM up-type quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This dynamics has been ignored so far in standard experimental searches of heavy quarks decaying to DM and we assess herein the regions of validity of current approaches, based on the assumption that the extra quarks have a narrow width. Further, we discuss the configurations of masses, widths and couplings where the latter breaks down.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures. Version accepted by PR

Searching for Z′Z' bosons decaying to gluons

The production and decay of a new heavy vector boson, a chromophilic $Z'$ vector boson, is described. The chromophilic $Z'$ couples only to two gluons, but its two-body decays are absent, leading to a dominant decay mode of $Z'\rightarrow q\bar{q}g$. The unusual nature of the interaction predicts a cross-section which grows with $m_{Z'}$ for a fixed coupling and an accompanying gluon with a coupling that rises with its energy. We study the $t\bar{t}g$ decay mode, proposing distinct reconstruction techniques for the observation of an excess and for the measurement of $m_{Z'}$. We estimate the sensitivity of current experimental datasets.Comment: For submission to PR

Results on top-quark physics from the CMS experiment

The most recent results on top-quark physics reported by the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented in this talk. The results are based on a data sample of about 36/pb of data collected during 2010 at a pp center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures Contributed to the Ninth International Conference on Flavor Physics and CP Violation (FPCP 2011), Maale Hachamisha, Israel, May 23--27, 201