Search for violation of Lorentz invariance in top quark pair production and decay

TL;DR

This study searches for Lorentz invariance violation in top quark pair production at the Fermilab Tevatron, using data to test for sidereal time dependence predicted by the standard-model extension, finding no significant violation.

Contribution

First experimental test of Lorentz invariance violation in the top quark sector using Tevatron data within the standard-model extension framework.

Findings

Coefficients for Lorentz violation are consistent with zero within uncertainties.

No evidence of sidereal time dependence in top quark pair production.

Constraints placed on Lorentz-violating parameters in the top sector.

Abstract

Using data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, corresponding to 5.3 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, we search for violation of Lorentz invariance by examining the \ttbar production cross section in lepton+jets final states. We quantify this violation using the standard-model extension framework, which predicts a dependence of the \ttbar production cross section on sidereal time as the orientation of the detector changes with the rotation of the Earth. Within this framework, we measure components of the matrices $(c_Q)_{\mu\nu 33}$ and $(c_U)_{\mu\nu 33}$ containing coefficients used to parametrize violation of Lorentz invariance in the top quark sector. Within uncertainties, these coefficients are found to be consistent with zero.