Search For High Mass Top Quark Pair Resonances With The Cms Experiment

I present a search for new massive particles decaying to a pair of top quarks with the CMS detector at the LHC, using 36 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded in 2016, at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. In the high mass ranges accessible by the LHC at these energies, the top quarks are produced with high transverse momenta: the products of hadronically decaying top quarks are reconstructed as a single jet. Specific reconstruction algorithms and selections are employed to address the identification of boosted top quark signatures. The search is performed by measuring the invariant mass distribution of the top-quark pair and testing for deviations from the expected Standard Model background. The results are presented in terms of expected upper limits on the production cross section of several models, including those of Randall-Sundrum Kaluza-Klein gluon and Z′ boson production. The results are then compared with those of previous searches.

We present a search for pair production of new physics resonances decaying into a top quark and a light parton in final states with two leptons, interpreting the results in the context of an R-parity violating supersymmetric model. We use 19.5 fb[-]1 of data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC from proton-proton collisions at s = 8 TeV in 2012. The experimental signature consists of two leptons (e or [MICRO SIGN]), two jets identified as originating from the decay of a b quark, and two jets identified as coming from light flavor quarks or gluons. We reconstruct and analyze potential resonant decays. The dominant standard model background is top quark pair production with additional jets from initialor final-state radiation. We perform an extended unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the transverse momenta of the two leading light jets and the reconstructed resonance mass. The observation is consistent with the standard model expectation, and we set upper limits on the signal cross section for R-parity violating bottom squarks with masses between 250 and 600 GeV. We exclude R-parity violating bottom squark pair production at the 95% confidence level between 250 GeV and 326 GeV.

A search is presented for a new massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a top anti-top quark pair, which then decay hadronically. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis uses data collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in 2011. The dataset contains 4.92 fb−1 of integrated luminosity from proton-proton collisions at a center of mass energy of 7 TeV. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall-Sundrum Kaluza-Klein gluon. In addition, any enhancement to t t-bar production for invariant masses above 1 TeV/c2 in the standard model is constrained.

Results are reported of a general search for pair production of heavy resonances decaying to pairs of jets in events with at least four jets. The study is based on up to 19.4 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. Limits are determined on the production of scalar top quarks (top squarks) in the framework of R-parity violating supersymmetry and on the production of color-octet vector bosons (colorons). First limits at the LHC are placed on top squark production for two scenarios. The first assumes decay to a bottom quark and a light-flavor quark and is excluded for masses between 200 and 385 GeV, and the second assumes decay to a pair of light-flavor quarks and is excluded for masses between 200 and 350 GeV at 95% confidence level. Previous limits on colorons decaying to light-flavor quarks are extended to exclude masses from 200 to 835 GeV.

This thesis presents the first experimental calibration of the top-quark Monte-Carlo mass. It also provides the top-quark mass-independent and most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurement to date. The most precise measurements of the top-quark mass obtain the top-quark mass parameter (Monte-Carlo mass) used in simulations, which are partially based on heuristic models. Its interpretation in terms of mass parameters used in theoretical calculations, e.g. a running or a pole mass, has been a long-standing open problem with far-reaching implications beyond particle physics, even affecting conclusions on the stability of the vacuum state of our universe. In this thesis, this problem is solved experimentally in three steps using data obtained with the compact muon solenoid (CMS) detector. The most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurements to date are performed. The Monte-Carlo mass is determined and a new method for extracting the top-quark mass from theoretical calculations is presented. Lastly, the top-quark production cross-sections are obtained – for the first time – without residual dependence on the top-quark mass, are interpreted using theoretical calculations to determine the top-quark running- and pole mass with unprecedented precision, and are fully consistently compared with the simultaneously obtained top-quark Monte-Carlo mass.

"The intriguing nature of the top quark, by far the heaviest particle in the Standard Model of particle physics, has motivated the development of many theoretical extensions predicting the existence of new massive particles decaying to a pair of top-antitop quarks. The production of these hypothetical particles in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider would reveal itself as a resonance in the expected smooth distribution of the top-antitop quark invariant mass. This thesis presents a search for such a new heavy particle decaying to a pair of top-antitop quarks in the semi-leptonic final state. The analyzed data sample amounts to a total of 4.6 fb-1 at a proton-proton collision center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Novel techniques specifically tailored to the identification of the decay products of highly energetic top quarks are developed and used. No evidence for resonant production of pairs of top-antitop quarks is found and, as a result, constraints are set on two theoretical models. Upper limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio are established at a 95% credibility level for a leptophobic Zʹ boson from the Topcolor model, and a Kaluza-Klein gluon from the Randall-Sundrum model. The Zʹ boson and the Kaluza-Klein gluon are excluded to exist (at a 95% credibility level) in the mass ranges 0.8-1.65 TeV and 0.8-1.88 TeV, respectively. The constraints de- rived in this thesis on the two theoretical models are more stringent than the ones obtained at other experiments, thanks to the large center-of-mass energy and the dedicated high-energy top quark identification techniques used." --

Results are reported of a general search for pair production of heavy resonances decaying to pairs of hadronic jets in events with at least four jets. The study is based on up to 19.4 fb–1 of integrated luminosity from proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. Limits are determined on the production of scalar top quarks (top squarks) in the framework of R-parity violating supersymmetry and on the production of color-octet vector bosons (colorons). First limits at the LHC are placed on top squark production for two scenarios. The first assumes decay to a bottom quark and a light-flavor quark and is excluded for masses between 200 and 385 GeV, and the second assumes decay to a pair of light-flavor quarks and is excluded for masses between 200 and 350 GeV at 95% confidence level. Furthermore, previous limits on colorons decaying to light-flavor quarks are extended to exclude masses from 200 to 835 GeV.