Observation of a cross-section enhancement near the $t\bar{t}$ production threshold in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector

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Autor principal: ATLAS Collaboration
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author ATLAS Collaboration
author_facet ATLAS Collaboration
contents A measurement of $t\bar{t}$ production is presented in the invariant-mass region near the pair production threshold, $m_{t\bar{t}} \sim 345$ GeV, in final states with two charged leptons and multiple jets. The measurement is based on $140\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data are compared to two models of $t\bar{t}$ production: a baseline model including only perturbative QCD predictions for the hard process at approximate next-to-next-to leading order accuracy in the strong coupling, and an extended model that, in addition, incorporates non-relativistic QCD simulations that also include the formation of colour-singlet quasi-bound-states near the $t\bar{t}$ threshold. The agreement between the data and the models is quantified via a profile-likelihood fit to the reconstructed $m_{t\bar{t}}$ distributions, in bins of two angular observables sensitive to spin-correlations in the $t\bar{t}$ system. An excess of events is observed over the baseline perturbative QCD prediction, with an observed significance over $8$ standard deviations. This excess is consistent with the formation of colour-singlet and spin-singlet $S$-wave quasi-bound $t\bar{t}$ states, as predicted by non-relativistic QCD, and corresponds to an observed cross-section of $9.3^{+1.4}_{-1.3}$ pb.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_11780
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observation of a cross-section enhancement near the $t\bar{t}$ production threshold in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector
ATLAS Collaboration
High Energy Physics - Experiment
A measurement of $t\bar{t}$ production is presented in the invariant-mass region near the pair production threshold, $m_{t\bar{t}} \sim 345$ GeV, in final states with two charged leptons and multiple jets. The measurement is based on $140\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data are compared to two models of $t\bar{t}$ production: a baseline model including only perturbative QCD predictions for the hard process at approximate next-to-next-to leading order accuracy in the strong coupling, and an extended model that, in addition, incorporates non-relativistic QCD simulations that also include the formation of colour-singlet quasi-bound-states near the $t\bar{t}$ threshold. The agreement between the data and the models is quantified via a profile-likelihood fit to the reconstructed $m_{t\bar{t}}$ distributions, in bins of two angular observables sensitive to spin-correlations in the $t\bar{t}$ system. An excess of events is observed over the baseline perturbative QCD prediction, with an observed significance over $8$ standard deviations. This excess is consistent with the formation of colour-singlet and spin-singlet $S$-wave quasi-bound $t\bar{t}$ states, as predicted by non-relativistic QCD, and corresponds to an observed cross-section of $9.3^{+1.4}_{-1.3}$ pb.
title Observation of a cross-section enhancement near the $t\bar{t}$ production threshold in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector
topic High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11780