Probing Top Quark-Electron Interactions at Future Colliders

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how future colliders can improve constraints on anomalous top quark-electron interactions, using next-to-leading order calculations within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive NLO analysis of experimental limits on anomalous $e^+e^- t ar{t}$ operators, extending sensitivity beyond leading order and comparing multiple future collider scenarios.

Findings

Current limits from electroweak precision tests are established.

Future colliders like HL-LHC, EIC, FCC-ee, and CEPC will significantly improve constraints.

NLO calculations reveal extended sensitivity to anomalous interactions.

Abstract

Top quark interactions offer a window into possible new high scale physics and many models of new physics predict that the top quark interactions will deviate significantly from those predicted by the Standard Model (SM). We present an analysis of the experimental restrictions on anomalous 4-fermion $e^+e^- t {\overline{t}}$ operators that is accurate to next-to-leading order (NLO) in both the electroweak and QCD interactions within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework. At NLO, there is sensitivity to an extended set of anomalous interactions beyond those probed at leading order. A comparison of current limits from electroweak precision observables, along with expected future limits from Drell-Yan and $t{\overline{t}}e^+e^-$ production at the high luminosity LHC, from deep inelastic scattering at the EIC, and from projected sensitivities at the future FCC-ee and CEPC machines demonstrates that each of these programs extends the precision understanding of the interactions of top quarks.