Full off-shell NLO QCD predictions for $t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper presents advanced NLO QCD predictions for the $pp\to t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ process at the LHC, including off-shell effects, differential distributions, and a method to distinguish $b$ jets from different origins.

Contribution

It provides the first full off-shell NLO QCD predictions for $t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ production with a novel kinematic reconstruction method to identify jet origins.

Findings

NLO QCD corrections significantly affect differential distributions.

Theoretical uncertainties from scale and PDF variations are quantified.

A simple kinematic method helps distinguish $b$ jets from top decays and gluon splittings.

Abstract

We report on state-of-the-art theoretical predictions for $pp\to t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$ including full off-shell effects in the di-lepton decay channel at NLO QCD accuracy. We briefly discuss the impact of NLO QCD corrections on differential distributions and also asses theoretical uncertainties from scale and PDF dependence. Furthermore, we propose a simple kinematic reconstruction in order to distinguish $b$ jets originating from top-quark decays from arising from gluon splittings.