Collider-Flavour Complementarity from the bottom to the top

TL;DR

This paper explores how top quark measurements at the LHC can complement low-energy B meson studies in probing new physics, especially in light of recent flavour anomalies.

Contribution

It provides a novel effective field theory analysis connecting top quark data with B meson phenomena, including a first comprehensive study of non-leptonic B decays.

Findings

LHC top measurements are increasingly competitive with flavour physics constraints.

Effective field theory with renormalization group evolution links B and top sector phenomena.

Top physics can serve as a complementary probe for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Abstract

Motivated by recently observed anomalies in the flavour sector, we analyse the potential of measurements of top quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to provide complementary constraints on interactions that shape low-energy precision investigations in the $B$ sector. The measurement of top quark properties, such as the top width and the abundant top pair production channels, are already reaching the percent level at this relatively early stage of the LHC phenomenology program. A focused analysis of four-fermion interactions, employing effective field theory without flavour structure assumptions and incorporating renormalization group evolution effects, bridges $B$ meson scale phenomena with key top quark measurements. We demonstrate that the LHC is increasingly competitive with, and complementary to, flavour physics constraints. Our results, which include a first comprehensive analysis of non-leptonic B decays in this context, suggest that the LHC's top physics program could serve as a valuable, complementary tool in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model within the flavour sector.