CMS-PAS-TOP-21-005

CMS-PAS-TOP-21-005
Evidence for the simultaneous production of four top quarks in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV
CMS Collaboration
20 September 2022

Abstract: The production of four top quarks ( $\mathrm{t\bar{t}t\bar{t}}$ ) is studied in up to 138 fb $^{-1}$ of LHC proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Events that have zero, one, or two opposite-sign charged electrons or muons are considered. This is the first $\mathrm{t\bar{t}t\bar{t}}$ result that includes the all-hadronic final state. The observed significance of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}t\bar{t}}$ signal in these final states is 3.7 standard deviations (1.5 expected). The measured cross section is 38 $^{+13}_{-11}$ fb. Combining this result with published CMS results in other final states, we obtain a significance of 3.9 standard deviations (3.2 expected), which corresponds to an observed cross section of 17 $^{+5}_{-5}$ fb.
Links: CDS record (PDF) ; Physics Briefing ; CADI line (restricted) ; These preliminary results are superseded in this paper, PLB 844 (2023) 138076. The superseded preliminary plots can be found here.

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