Limits on Four-Top Production from the ATLAS Same-sign Top-quark Search

TL;DR

This paper reinterprets ATLAS data to set limits on four-top-quark production, constraining models with top quark compositeness and providing bounds on new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Contribution

It repurposes existing ATLAS search results to establish new limits on four-top-quark production and top quark compositeness models.

Findings

Limits on four-top-quark production cross section (~1 pb)

Constraints on top quark compositeness scale (~700 GeV)

Existing data already constrains beyond Standard Model scenarios

Abstract

We repurpose the recent ATLAS search for same-sign top quarks in data with 1.0 fb$^{-1}$ in the context of a search for production of four top quarks. Using the null results of that search, we place limits on the four-top-quark production cross section of about 1 pb. These limits are larger than the expected Standard Model rate for four-top-quark production, but are already strong enough to place interesting constraints on models which enhance that rate. We interpret these results in the context of models in which the right-handed top quark is composite and find limits on the compositeness scale of about 700 GeV.