New paradigm for precision top physics: Weighing the top with energy correlators

Abstract

Final states in collider experiments are characterized by correlation functions, (E(n→1)⋯E(n→k)), of the energy flow operator E(n→i). We show that the top quark imprints itself as a peak in the three-point correlator at an angle ζ∼mt2/pT2, with mt the top quark mass and pT its transverse momentum, providing access to one of the most important parameters of the Standard Model in one of the simplest field theoretical observables. Our analysis provides the first step toward a new paradigm for a precise top-mass determination that is, for the first time, highly insensitive to soft physics and underlying event contamination whilst remaining directly calculable from the Standard Model Lagrangian.