CMS logoCMS event Hgg
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN

CMS-TOP-22-003 ; CERN-EP-2024-027
Search for baryon number violation in top quark production and decay using proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV
Phys. Rev. Lett. 132 (2024) 241802
Abstract: A search is presented for baryon number violating interactions in top quark production and decay. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $. Candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely-charged leptons (electrons or muons) and exactly one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark. Multivariate discriminants are used to separate the signal from the background. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed. Upper limits are placed on the strength of baryon number violating couplings. For the first time the production of single top quarks via baryon number violating interactions is studied. This allows the search to set the most stringent constraints to date on the branching fraction of the top quark decay to a lepton, an up-type quark (u or c), and a down-type quark (d, s, or b). The results improve the previous bounds by three to six orders of magnitude based on the fermion flavor combination of the baryon number violating interactions.
Figures & Tables Summary References CMS Publications
Figures

png pdf
Figure 1:
Representative Feynman diagrams for single top quark production (left) and top quark decays (right) via BNV interactions. The red circles mark the BNV vertices.

png pdf
Figure 2:
The BDT output distributions for data (points) and backgrounds (histograms) for the $ \mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^- $ (left), $ \mu^{+}\mu^{-} $ (right), and $ \mathrm{e}^\pm\mu^\mp $ (lower) channels, including the ratio of data to the predicted total background yield. The hatched bands indicate the total uncertainty (statistical and systematic added in quadrature) for the SM background predictions. The predicted yields of the backgrounds and the uncertainty bands are shown after the simultaneous fits for the signal-plus-background hypothesis. Examples of the predicted signal contribution for the BNV interactions via $ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (solid gray line) and $ \mathrm{t}\mu\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (dashed black line) vertices are shown.

png pdf
Figure 2-a:
The BDT output distributions for data (points) and backgrounds (histograms) for the $ \mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^- $ (left), $ \mu^{+}\mu^{-} $ (right), and $ \mathrm{e}^\pm\mu^\mp $ (lower) channels, including the ratio of data to the predicted total background yield. The hatched bands indicate the total uncertainty (statistical and systematic added in quadrature) for the SM background predictions. The predicted yields of the backgrounds and the uncertainty bands are shown after the simultaneous fits for the signal-plus-background hypothesis. Examples of the predicted signal contribution for the BNV interactions via $ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (solid gray line) and $ \mathrm{t}\mu\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (dashed black line) vertices are shown.

png pdf
Figure 2-b:
The BDT output distributions for data (points) and backgrounds (histograms) for the $ \mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^- $ (left), $ \mu^{+}\mu^{-} $ (right), and $ \mathrm{e}^\pm\mu^\mp $ (lower) channels, including the ratio of data to the predicted total background yield. The hatched bands indicate the total uncertainty (statistical and systematic added in quadrature) for the SM background predictions. The predicted yields of the backgrounds and the uncertainty bands are shown after the simultaneous fits for the signal-plus-background hypothesis. Examples of the predicted signal contribution for the BNV interactions via $ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (solid gray line) and $ \mathrm{t}\mu\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (dashed black line) vertices are shown.

png pdf
Figure 2-c:
The BDT output distributions for data (points) and backgrounds (histograms) for the $ \mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^- $ (left), $ \mu^{+}\mu^{-} $ (right), and $ \mathrm{e}^\pm\mu^\mp $ (lower) channels, including the ratio of data to the predicted total background yield. The hatched bands indicate the total uncertainty (statistical and systematic added in quadrature) for the SM background predictions. The predicted yields of the backgrounds and the uncertainty bands are shown after the simultaneous fits for the signal-plus-background hypothesis. Examples of the predicted signal contribution for the BNV interactions via $ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (solid gray line) and $ \mathrm{t}\mu\mathrm{u}\mathrm{d} $ (dashed black line) vertices are shown.

png pdf
Figure 3:
The observed upper limits on the branching fractions of the top quark BNV decays are shown with circle and triangle shapes for electron and muon couplings, respectively. The observed limits corresponding to the $ C_t $ and $ C_s $ coefficients are shown with filled and open markers, respectively. The yellow light (green dark) bands indicate the range within plus or minus one (two) standard deviations bands around the expected limits.
Tables

png pdf
Table 1:
Theoretical inclusive cross sections, in units of pico barn (pb), for single top quark production (ST) and top quark-antiquark pair production with the decay (TT) via BNV interactions, assuming a top quark mass of 172.5 GeV, the top quark decay width 1.33 GeV, $ \Lambda= $ 1 TeV, and $ C_t = $ 1 or $ C_s= $ 1. The uncertainties arising from the choice of the renormalization and factorization scales and PDFs are given as ($ \sigma{\pm\text{Scale}}{\pm\text{PDF}} $). Here, the sum of the two cross sections is given where $\ell =$ e or $ \mu $.

png pdf
Table 2:
Expected and observed 95% CL upper limits on the BNV effective couplings and top quark BNV branching fractions.
Summary
In summary, a search for baryon number violation (BNV) in events with top quarks is performed using the LHC proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The analysis explores baryon number violating effects in single top quark production for the first time. Data were collected by the CMS experiment in 2016--2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$ ^{-1} $. Events with a lepton pair and exactly one b-tagged jet are selected. A boosted decision tree (BDT) is used to separate signal events from background events. A binned maximum likelihood fit to the BDT output distribution is performed to search for the BNV processes. Considering BNV vertices in the production of top quarks dramatically increases the sensitivity of this search. No significant excess of events over the background prediction is observed. Upper limits are placed on the strengths of the BNV couplings, which are multiple orders of magnitude more stringent than the previous limits [11].
References
1 G. 't Hooft Symmetry breaking through Bell-Jackiw anomalies PRL 37 (1976) 8
2 A. D. Sakharov Violation of CP Invariance, C asymmetry, and baryon asymmetry of the universe Pisma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 5 (1967) 32
3 H. Georgi and S. L. Glashow Unity of all elementary particle forces PRL 32 (1974) 438
4 S. Weinberg Supersymmetry at ordinary energies. 1. masses and conservation laws PRD 26 (1982) 287
5 Super-Kamiokande Collaboration Search for proton decay via $ p\to e^+\pi^0 $ and $ p\to \mu^+\pi^0 $ with an enlarged fiducial volume in Super-Kamiokande I-IV PRD 102 (2020) 112011 2010.16098
6 LHCb Collaboration Searches for violation of lepton flavour and baryon number in tau lepton decays at LHCb PLB 724 (2013) 36 1304.4518
7 BESIII Collaboration Search for baryon- and lepton-number violating decays $ D^0 \rightarrow \overline{p} e^+ $ and $ D^0 \rightarrow pe^- $ PRD 105 (2022) 032006 2112.10972
8 BaBar Collaboration Searches for the baryon- and lepton-number violating decays $ B^0\rightarrow\Lambda_c^+\ell^- $, $ B^-\rightarrow\Lambda\ell^- $, and $ B^-\rightarrow\bar{\Lambda}\ell^- $ PRD 83 (2011) 091101 1101.3830
9 W.-S. Hou, M. Nagashima, and A. Soddu Baryon number violation involving higher generations PRD 72 (2005) 095001 hep-ph/0509006
10 M. E. McCracken et al. Search for baryon-number and lepton-number violating decays of $\Lambda $ hyperons using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory PRD 92 (2015) 072002 1507.03859
11 CMS Collaboration Search for baryon number violation in top-quark decays PLB 731 (2014) 173 1310.1618
12 S. Weinberg Baryon and lepton nonconserving processes PRL 43 (1979) 1566
13 Z. Dong et al. Baryon number violation at the LHC: the top option PRD 85 (2012) 016006 1107.3805
14 CMS Collaboration The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC JINST 3 (2008) S08004
15 NNPDF Collaboration Parton distributions from high-precision collider data EPJC 77 (2017) 663 1706.00428
16 T. Sjöstrand et al. An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2 Comput. Phys. Commun. 191 (2015) 159 1410.3012
17 CMS Collaboration Extraction and validation of a new set of CMS PYTHIA8 tunes from underlying-event measurements EPJC 80 (2020) 4 CMS-GEN-17-001
1903.12179
18 GEANT4 Collaboration GEANT 4 --- a simulation toolkit NIM A 506 (2003) 250
19 P. Nason A new method for combining NLO QCD with shower Monte Carlo algorithms JHEP 11 (2004) 040 0409146
20 S. Alioli, P. Nason, C. Oleari, and E. Re A general framework for implementing NLO calculations in shower Monte Carlo programs: the POWHEG BOX JHEP 06 (2010) 043 1002.2581
21 S. Frixione, P. Nason, and C. Oleari Matching NLO QCD computations with parton shower simulations: the POWHEG method JHEP 11 (2007) 070 0709.2092
22 J. Alwall et al. The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations JHEP 07 (2014) 079 1405.0301
23 M. Czakon and A. Mitov Top++: A program for the calculation of the top-pair cross-section at hadron colliders Comput. Phys. Commun. 185 (2014) 2930 1112.5675
24 M. Czakon et al. Top-pair production at the LHC through NNLO QCD and NLOEW JHEP 10 (2017) 186 1705.04105
25 Y. Li and F. Petriello Combining QCD and electroweak corrections to dilepton production in FEWZ PRD 86 (2012) 094034 1208.5967
26 N. Kidonakis Two-loop soft anomalous dimensions for single top quark associated production with $ \mathrm{W^-} $ or $ \mathrm{H^-} $ PRD 82 (2010) 054018 1005.4451
27 J. M. Campbell, R. K. Ellis, and C. Williams Vector boson pair production at the LHC JHEP 07 (2011) 018 1105.0020
28 F. Maltoni, D. Pagani, and I. Tsinikos Associated production of a top-quark pair with vector bosons at NLO in QCD: impact on $ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}}\mathrm{H} $ searches at the LHC JHEP 02 (2016) 113 1507.05640
29 CMS Collaboration Measurement of the $ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}} $ production cross section, the top quark mass, and the strong coupling constant using dilepton events in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV EPJC 79 (2019) 368 CMS-TOP-17-001
1812.10505
30 CMS Collaboration The CMS trigger system JINST 12 (2017) P01020 CMS-TRG-12-001
1609.02366
31 CMS Collaboration Search for resonant and nonresonant new phenomena in high-mass dilepton final states at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV JHEP 07 (2021) 208 CMS-EXO-19-019
2103.02708
32 CMS Collaboration Particle-flow reconstruction and global event description with the CMS detector JINST 12 (2017) P10003 CMS-PRF-14-001
1706.04965
33 CMS Collaboration Technical proposal for the Phase-II upgrade of the Compact Muon Solenoid CMS Technical Proposal CERN-LHCC-2015-010, CMS-TDR-15-02, 2015
CDS
34 CMS Collaboration Performance of electron reconstruction and selection with the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 8 TeV JINST 10 (2015) P06005 CMS-EGM-13-001
1502.02701
35 CMS Collaboration Performance of the CMS muon detector and muon reconstruction with proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JINST 13 (2018) P06015 CMS-MUO-16-001
1804.04528
36 M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez The anti-$ k_{\mathrm{T}} $ jet clustering algorithm JHEP 04 (2008) 063 0802.1189
37 M. Cacciari, G. P. Salam, and G. Soyez FastJet user manual EPJC 72 (2012) 1896 1111.6097
38 CMS Collaboration Identification of heavy-flavour jets with the CMS detector in pp collisions at 13 TeV JINST 13 (2018) P05011 CMS-BTV-16-002
1712.07158
39 CMS Collaboration Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV using the CMS detector JINST 14 (2019) P07004 CMS-JME-17-001
1903.06078
40 CMS Collaboration Cross section measurement of $ t $-channel single top quark production in pp collisions at $ \sqrt s = $ 13 TeV PLB 772 (2017) 752 CMS-TOP-16-003
1610.00678
41 H. Voss, A. Höcker, J. Stelzer, and F. Tegenfeldt TMVA, the toolkit for multivariate data analysis with ROOT in XIth International Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research (ACAT)
[PoS(ACAT)040], 2007
physics/0703039
42 J. R. Quinlan Simplifying decision trees Int. J. Man-Mach. Stud. 27 (1987) 221
43 CMS Collaboration Measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV PRL 116 (2016) 052002 CMS-TOP-15-003
1510.05302
44 CMS Collaboration Search for charged-lepton flavor violation in top quark production and decay in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV JHEP 06 (2022) 082 CMS-TOP-19-006
2201.07859
45 CMS Collaboration Precision luminosity measurement in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016 at CMS EPJC 81 (2021) 800 CMS-LUM-17-003
2104.01927
46 CMS Collaboration CMS luminosity measurement for the 2017 data-taking period at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV CMS Physics Analysis Summary, 2017 CMS-PAS-LUM-17-004
47 CMS Collaboration CMS luminosity measurement for the 2018 data-taking period at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV CMS Physics Analysis Summary, 2018 CMS-PAS-LUM-18-002
48 CMS Collaboration Measurement of the inelastic proton-proton cross section at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JHEP 07 (2018) 161 CMS-FSQ-15-005
1802.02613
49 CMS Collaboration Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 7 TeV JINST 7 (2012) P10002 CMS-MUO-10-004
1206.4071
50 CMS Collaboration Performance summary of AK4 jet b tagging with data from proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV with the CMS detector CMS Detector Performance Note CMS-DP-2023-005, 2023
CDS
51 CMS Collaboration Jet energy scale and resolution in the CMS experiment in pp collisions at 8 TeV JINST 12 (2017) P02014 CMS-JME-13-004
1607.03663
52 CMS Collaboration Measurements of $ \mathrm{t\overline{t}} $ differential cross sections in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV using events containing two leptons JHEP 02 (2019) 149 CMS-TOP-17-014
1811.06625
53 CMS Collaboration Measurement of the production cross section for single top quarks in association with W bosons in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV JHEP 10 (2018) 117 CMS-TOP-17-018
1805.07399
54 A. L. Read Presentation of search results: The $ CL_s $ technique JPG 28 (2002) 2693
55 CMS Collaboration HEPData record for this analysis link
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN