Single top quark production in $t$-channel at the LHC in Noncommutative Space-Time

TL;DR

This paper investigates how noncommutative space-time affects the production cross section and spin correlations of single top quarks at the LHC, providing bounds on noncommutative parameters based on current experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of noncommutative geometry on top quark production and decay, offering new limits on noncommutative parameters from LHC measurements.

Findings

Noncommutativity causes significant deviations in the t-channel single top cross section.

Noncommutative effects can enhance angular correlations in top decay.

Upper limits on noncommutative scale are derived from experimental data.

Abstract

We study the production cross section of the $t$-channel single top quark at the LHC in the noncommutative space-time. It is shown that the deviation of the $t$-channel single top cross section from the Standard Model value because of noncommutativity is significant when $|\vec{\theta}| \gtrsim 10^{-4}$ GeV$^{-2}$. Using the present experimental precision in measurement of the $t$-channel cross section, we apply upper limit on the noncommutative parameter. When a single top quark decays, there is a significant amount of angular correlation, in the top quark rest frame between the top spin direction and the direction of the charged lepton momentum from its decay. We study the effect of noncommutativity on the spin correlation and we find that depending on the noncommutative scale, the angular correlation can enhance considerably. Then, we provide limits on the noncommutative scale for various possible relative uncertainties on the spin correlation measurement.