Measurement of the $t\bar{t}$ production cross-section using $e\mu$ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a precise measurement of the top quark pair production cross-section at 13 TeV using ATLAS data, employing b-tagging and event counting to minimize uncertainties, and finds results consistent with QCD predictions.

Contribution

First measurement of $\sigma_{tar{t}}$ at 13 TeV with b-tagging and simultaneous efficiency determination, reducing systematic uncertainties.

Findings

Measured cross-section: 818 pb with 4.4% total uncertainty.

Results agree with next-to-next-to-leading order QCD calculations.

Implemented a method to minimize systematic uncertainties in top quark measurements.

Abstract

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) with a data sample of 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron--muon pair in the final state. Jets containing $b$-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two $b$-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ and the efficiency to reconstruct and $b$-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$= 818 $\pm$ 8 (stat) $\pm$ 27 (syst) $\pm$ 19 (lumi) $\pm$ 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented.