Search for top quark decays $t \rightarrow qH$, with $H\to\gamma\gamma$, in $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV $pp$ collisions using the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This study searches for rare top quark decays into a Higgs boson and an up or charm quark using 13 TeV proton-proton collision data from ATLAS, setting upper limits on the decay probabilities.

Contribution

First search for $t ightarrow qH$ decays with $H o \gamma\gamma$ in ATLAS data at 13 TeV, providing new upper limits on these flavor-changing neutral current processes.

Findings

No significant excess observed in the data.

Upper limit on $t ightarrow cH$ branching ratio is $2.2 imes 10^{-3}$.

Upper limit on $t ightarrow uH$ branching ratio is $2.4 imes 10^{-3}$.

Abstract

This article presents a search for flavour-changing neutral currents in the decay of a top quark into an up-type ($q = c, u$) quark and a Higgs boson, where the Higgs boson decays into two photons. The proton--proton collision data set analysed amounts to 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Top quark pair events are searched for, where one top quark decays into $qH$ and the other decays into $bW$. Both the hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the $W$ boson are used. No significant excess is observed and an upper limit is set on the $t \rightarrow cH$ branching ratio of $2.2\times 10^{-3}$ at the 95% confidence level, while the expected limit in the absence of signal is $1.6 \times 10^{-3}$. The corresponding limit on the $tcH$ coupling is 0.090 at the 95% confidence level. The observed upper limit on the $t \rightarrow uH$ branching ratio is $2.4 \times 10^{-3}$.