Authors:

Madeline Anna Rehwinkel

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About Paper:

This project investigates the prospects of quantum entanglement in top quark pair production at the high-luminosity large hadron collider (HL- LHC). Utilizing generated Monte Carlo (MC) samples, we analyze the MC data to derive kinematic variables relevant to top-antitop quark production. Event selection criteria specific to top-antitop quark production and subsequent decay in the dilepton channel are applied, followed by a kinematic top quark reconstruction, which involves identifying the decay products of the top quarks and reconstructing their momenta and other properties. Uncertainties are then applied to the MC samples. The focus is on measuring the normalized differential cross-section with respect to the opening angle, delta phi, between outgoing leptons in the transverse plane of the top quark center of mass frame. These leptons stem from the decay of the top quark into W boson, and W into a lepton and neutrino. Delta phi is sensitive to the extent of spin correlations between the produced top quark antitop quark pair originating from the colliding particles, quantified by the spin coefficient D. Entanglement is present in a certain phase space corresponding to -1 < D < -1/3. This study expands on previous work by implementing systematic uncertainties to the nominal analysis. On a broader scale, this method of data analysis can be used to probe the capabilities of the HL-LHC collider in future experiments and advance our understanding of quantum entanglement in particle physics, while contributing to the wider field of quantum mechanics through the potential application of Bell's inequality tests. Keywords: Quantum Entanglement; Spin Correlation Coefficients; Top Quarks; High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC); Spin Polarization

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

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Co-authors:

Madeline Anna Rehwinkel