# Search for top-quark decays $t \rightarrow Hq$ with 36 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

## TL;DR

This paper searches for rare top-quark decays into a Higgs boson and an up-type quark using 36 fb$^{-1}$ of 13 TeV collision data, setting upper limits on the branching ratios and couplings with no significant signal found.

## Contribution

First combined search for $t
ightarrow Hq$ decays in multiple Higgs decay channels using ATLAS data at 13 TeV, improving constraints on these rare processes.

## Key findings

- No significant excess observed above background.
- 95% CL upper limits on $t
ightarrow Hc$ and $t
ightarrow Hu$ branching ratios are around 1.1-1.2 x 10^{-3}.
- Upper limits on the couplings $| ext{lambda}_{tcH}|$ and $| ext{lambda}_{tuH}|$ are approximately 0.055-0.066.

## Abstract

A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark ($q=u, c$) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, $t\rightarrow Hq$, is presented. The search is based on a dataset of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$. Two complementary analyses are performed that search for top-quark pair events in which one top quark decays into $Wb$ and the other top quark decays into $Hq$, and target the $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}$ and $H\rightarrow\tau^+\tau^-$ decay modes, respectively. The high multiplicity of $b$-quark jets, or the presence of hadronically decaying $\tau$-leptons, are exploited in the two analyses respectively. Multivariate techniques are used to separate the signal from the background, which is dominated by top-quark pair production. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found, and 95% CL upper limits on the $t\rightarrow Hq$ branching ratios are derived. The combination of these searches with ATLAS searches in diphoton and multilepton final states yields observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the $t\rightarrow Hc$ and $t\rightarrow Hu$ branching ratios of $1.1 \times 10^{-3}$ ($8.3 \times 10^{-4}$) and $1.2 \times 10^{-3}$ ($8.3 \times 10^{-4}$), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the $|\lambda_{tcH}|$ and $|\lambda_{tuH}|$ couplings are 0.064 (0.055) and 0.066 (0.055), respectively.