Search

Abstract We compute the effects due to the virtual exchange (or the soft emission) of a scalar particle with generic couplings to the top quark in t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ pair production at the LHC. We apply the results to two cases of interest, extending and completing previous studies. First, we consider the indirect search for light (m S < 2m t ) top-philic scalars with CP-even and/or CP-odd interactions. Second, we investigate how to set constraints on anomalous Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson to the top quark. Our results show that the current precision of experimental data together with the accuracy of the SM predictions make such indirect determinations a powerful probe for new physics.

Abstract We study the quantum properties of top quark pairs in lepton colliders with unpolarised beams, including spin correlations, entanglement, and violation of Bell inequalities. We present analytical results in the SM and in the SMEFT and discuss several practical aspects, like the choice of quantisation axes and t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ threshold effects. We also note a correspondence between parity symmetry and entanglement. We find that quantum observables exhibit a rich phenomenology in the SM, and can also provide additional leverage in detecting new physics residing at higher scales.

Abstract We study the capabilities of a muon collider, at 3 and 10 TeV center-of-mass energy, of probing the interactions of the Higgs boson with the muon. We consider all the possible processes involving the direct production of EW bosons (W, Z and H) with up to five particles in the final state. We study these processes both in the HEFT and SMEFT frameworks, assuming that the dominant BSM effects originate from the muon Yukawa sector. Our study shows that a Muon Collider has sensitivity beyond the high-luminosity LHC, especially as it does not rely on the Higgs-decay branching fraction to muons. A 10 TeV muon collider provides a unique sensitivity on muon and (multi-) Higgs interactions, significantly better than the 3 TeV option. Particularly, we find searches based purely on multi-Higgs production to be particularly effective in probing these couplings.

Abstract We study the LHC phenomenology of an Axion Like Particle (ALP) that couples only derivatively with the top quark at tree level. We inspect the radiatively induced couplings with the SM fermions and (gauge) bosons and the associated production and decay mechanisms of the ALP. We focus on the most challenging mass window that remains open for a top-philic ALP, i.e., the range between tens and hundreds of GeV. Not only ALP production processes but also virtual ALP contributions to final states with top quarks are considered in detail. We show how searches through resonant production, such as ALP production in association with a t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ pair, are complementary to precision measurements of t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ and t t ¯ t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t}t\overline{t} $$ final states, the latter being competitive or even more powerful for a top-philic ALP in this mass window. Finally, we explore the scenario where the top-philic ALP acts as a mediator to a dark-matter sector, resulting in missing energy signatures at the LHC. We find that the LHC constraints from t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ , t t ¯ t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t}t\overline{t} $$ and ALP + jet production, together with those from t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ + ALP production, can already exclude a large fraction of the parameter space leading to the correct relic abundance.

Abstract The recent observation of entanglement between top and anti-top quarks at the LHC opens the way to interpreting collider data with quantum information tools. In this work we investigate the relevance of quantum observables in searches of new physics. To this aim, we study spin correlations of $$t\overline{t }$$ pairs originating from various intermediate resonances, and compare the discovery reach of quantum observables compared to classical ones. We find that they provide complementary information and, in several notable cases, also the additional leverage necessary to detect new effects.

Abstract We study the phenomenology of superheavy decaying dark matter with mass around 1010 GeV which can arise in the low-energy limit of string compactifications. Generic features of string theory setups (such as high scale supersymmetry breaking and epochs of early matter domination driven by string moduli) can accommodate superheavy dark matter with the correct relic abundance. In addition, stringy instantons induce tiny R-parity violating couplings which make dark matter unstable with a lifetime well above the age of the Universe. Adopting a model-independent approach, we compute the flux and spectrum of high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos from three-body decays of superheavy dark matter and constrain its mass-lifetime plane with current observations and future experiments. We show that these bounds have only a mild dependence on the exact nature of neutralino dark matter and its decay channels. Applying these constraints to an explicit string model sets an upper bound of O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (0.1) on the string coupling, ensuring that the effective field theory is in the perturbative regime.

Abstract Pair production of heavy vector bosons is a key process at colliders: it allows to test our understanding of the Standard Model and to explore the existence of new physics through precision measurements of production rates and differential distributions. New physics effects can be subtle and often require observables specifically designed for their detection. In this study, we focus on quantum information observables that characterise the spin states of the final diboson system. We analyse concurrence bounds, purity, and Bell inequalities for a bipartite qutrit system representing two massive gauge bosons. Our findings show that quantum spin observables can serve as complementary probes for heavy new physics as parametrised by higher dimensional operators in the Standard Model effective field theory. In particular, we find that these observables offer increased sensitivity to operators whose contributions do not interfere with the Standard Model amplitudes at the level of differential cross sections.

Abstract We explore the impact of Renormalisation Group (RG) effects in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) interpretations of LHC measurements. We implement the RG running and mixing for the Wilson coefficients as obtained from the one-loop anomalous dimension matrix in the SMEFT into a Monte Carlo generator. This allows to consistently predict and combine in global fits collider observables characterised by different scales. As a showcase, we examine the impact of RG running in the strong coupling on the SMEFT predictions for t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ production cross sections and differential distributions as well as on the bounds on the Wilson coefficients that can be obtained from current LHC data.

Abstract A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.

Abstract Automated tools for the computation of particle physics’ processes have become the backbone of phenomenological studies beyond the standard model. Here, we present MadDM v3.2. This release enables the fully automated computation of loop-induced dark-matter annihilation processes, relevant for indirect detection observables. Special emphasis lies on the annihilation into $$\gamma X$$ γ X , where $$X=\gamma , Z, h$$ X = γ , Z , h or any new particle even under the dark symmetry. These processes lead to the sharp spectral feature of monochromatic gamma lines – a smoking-gun signature of dark matter in our Galaxy. MadDM provides the predictions for the respective fluxes near-Earth and derives constraints from the gamma-ray line searches by Fermi-LAT and HESS. As an application, we discuss the implications for the viable parameter space of a top-philic t-channel mediator model and the inert doublet model.

Abstract We compute the perturbative component of the fragmentation function of the b quark to the best of the present theoretical knowledge. The fixed-order calculation to order α s 2 $$ {\alpha}_s^2 $$ of the fragmentation function at the initial scale is matched with soft-emission logarithm resummation to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, so that order- α s 2 $$ {\alpha}_s^2 $$ corrections are accounted for exactly, and logarithmically enhanced contributions from loops of b quarks are included. This requires the calculation of the Mellin transform of the order- α s 2 $$ {\alpha}_s^2 $$ result in the whole complex plane for the Mellin variable, which we provide for the first time for all the fragmenting partons. Evolution is performed to next-to-next-to-leading log accuracy, and mixing with the gluon fragmentation function is taken into account. The perturbative fragmentation functions are made available via LHAPDF grids.

Abstract We study four top quark production at hadron colliders in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We perform an analysis at the tree-level, including all possible QCD- and EW-coupling orders and relevant dimension-six operators. We find several cases where formally subleading terms give rise to significant contributions, potentially providing sensitivity to a broad class of operators. Inclusive and differential predictions are presented for the LHC and a future pp circular collider operating at 100 TeV. We estimate the sensitivity of different operators and perform a simplified chi-square fit to set limits on SMEFT Wilson coefficients. In so doing, we assess the importance of including subleading terms and differential information in constraining new physics contributions. Finally, we compute the SMEFT predictions for the double insertion of dimension-six operators and scrutinise the possible enhancements to the sensitivity induced by a specific class of higher order terms in the EFT series.

Abstract Due to the inclination for forward gauge radiation, lepton colliders beyond a few TeV are effectively electroweak (EW) boson colliders, suggesting the treatment of EW bosons as constituents of high-energy leptons. In the context of a muon collider, we revisit the validity of W and Z parton distribution functions (PDFs) at leading order in 2 → n process. We systematically investigate universal and quasi-universal power-law and logarithmic corrections that arise when deriving (polarized) weak boson PDFs in the collinear limit. We go on to survey a multitude of 2 → n processes at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 2–30 TeV via polarized and unpolarized EW boson fusion/scattering. To conduct this study, we report a public implementation of the Effective W/Z and Weizsäcker-Williams Approximations, which we collectively call the Effective Vector Boson Approximation, into the Monte Carlo event generator MadGraph5_aMC@NLO. This implementation lays the groundwork for developing matrix-element matching prescriptions involving EW parton showers and renormalized EW PDFs. To further with this agenda, we give recommendations on using W/Z PDFs.

Abstract We present the prospects of detecting quantum entanglement and the violation of Bell inequalities in $$t\bar{t}$$ t t ¯ events at the LHC. We introduce a unique set of observables suitable for both measurements, and then perform the corresponding analyses using simulated events in the dilepton final state, reconstructing up to the unfolded level. We find that entanglement can be established at better than $$5 \sigma $$ 5 σ both at threshold as well as at high $$p_T$$ p T already in the LHC Run 2 dataset. On the other hand, only very high- $$p_T$$ p T events are sensitive to a violation of Bell inequalities, making it significantly harder to observe experimentally. By employing a sensitive and robust observable, two different unfolding methods and independent statistical approaches, we conclude that, at variance with previous estimates, testing Bell inequalities will be challenging even in the high luminosity LHC run.

Abstract We study single top quark production in association with a WZ pair at the LHC in the context of the Standard Model (SM) and the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). A significant advantage of tWZ compared to other EW top production processes is its sensitivity to unitarity-violating behaviour induced in its 2 → 2 sub-amplitudes through modified EW interactions. At NLO in QCD, tWZ interferes with t t ¯ $$ \overline{t} $$ Z and t t ¯ $$ \overline{t} $$ and a method to meaningfully separate it from these overlapping processes needs to be employed. In order to define tWZ production for total rates and differential distributions, we consider the approaches proposed in the literature for similar cases and find that diagram-removal procedures provide reliable results both for the SM and the SMEFT in a suitably defined phase-space region. We provide robust results for total and differential cross sections for tWZ at 13 TeV, including the six relevant dimension-6 operators ( O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ tW , O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ tZ , O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ tG , O φQ − $$ {\mathcal{O}}_{\varphi Q}^{\left(-\right)} $$ , O φQ 3 $$ {\mathcal{O}}_{\varphi Q}^{(3)} $$ , O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ φt ), also matching short-distance events to parton shower.

Abstract We present a global interpretation of Higgs, diboson, and top quark production and decay measurements from the LHC in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) at dimension six. We constrain simultaneously 36 independent directions in its parameter space, and compare the outcome of the global analysis with that from individual and two-parameter fits. Our results are obtained by means of state-of-the-art theoretical calculations for the SM and the EFT cross-sections, and account for both linear and quadratic corrections in the 1/Λ2 expansion. We demonstrate how the inclusion of NLO QCD and O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (Λ −4) effects is instrumental to accurately map the posterior distributions associated to the fitted Wilson coefficients. We assess the interplay and complementarity between the top quark, Higgs, and diboson measurements, deploy a variety of statistical estimators to quantify the impact of each dataset in the parameter space, and carry out fits in BSM-inspired scenarios such as the top-philic model. Our results represent a stepping stone in the ongoing program of model-independent searches at the LHC from precision measurements, and pave the way towards yet more global SMEFT interpretations extended to other high-p T processes as well as to low-energy observables.

Abstract With an expected rate of about one event per 100,000 top-quark pairs, four top-quark final states very rarely arise at the LHC. Though scarce, they offer a unique window onto top-quark compositeness, self-interactions and more generically, onto any top-philic new physics. By employing simplified models featuring heavy resonances, we study the range of validity of effective theory interpretations of current four top-quark analyses at the LHC and establish their future reach at the HL-LHC. We find that for the class of models under consideration, the effective field theory interpretations are not applicable. We therefore present the most up-to-date limits obtained from public CMS analyses using simplified models. Finally, we put forward a novel recasting strategy for the experimental results based on the production of top quarks with large transverse momentum.

Abstract High-energy lepton colliders with a centre-of-mass energy in the multi-TeV range are currently considered among the most challenging and far-reaching future accelerator projects. Studies performed so far have mostly focused on the reach for new phenomena in lepton-antilepton annihilation channels. In this work we observe that starting from collider energies of a few TeV, electroweak (EW) vector boson fusion/scattering (VBF) at lepton colliders becomes the dominant production mode for all Standard Model processes relevant to studying the EW sector. In many cases we find that this also holds for new physics. We quantify the size and the growth of VBF cross sections with collider energy for a number of SM and new physics processes. By considering luminosity scenarios achievable at a muon collider, we conclude that such a machine would effectively be a “high-luminosity weak boson collider,” and subsequently offer a wide range of opportunities to precisely measure EW and Higgs couplings as well as discover new particles.

Abstract We provide a comprehensive global analysis of Run II top measurements at the LHC in terms of dimension-6 operators. A distinctive feature of the top sector as compared to the Higgs-electroweak sector is the large number of four-quark operators. We discuss in detail how they can be tested and how quadratic terms lead to a stable limit on each individual Wilson coefficient. Predictions for all observables are computed at NLO in QCD. Our SFitter analysis framework features a detailed error treatment, including correlations between uncertainties.

Between the years 2015 and 2019, members of the Horizon 2020-funded Innovative Training Network named “AMVA4NewPhysics” studied the customization and application of advanced multivariate analysis methods and statistical learning tools to high-energy physics problems, as well as developed entirely new ones. Many of those methods were successfully used to improve the sensitivity of data analyses performed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider; several others, still in the testing phase, promise to further improve the precision of measurements of fundamental physics parameters and the reach of searches for new phenomena. In this paper, the most relevant new tools, among those studied and developed, are presented along with the evaluation of their performances.

Abstract Modified interactions in the electroweak sector may lead to scattering amplitudes that grow with energy compared to their Standard Model (SM) counterparts. We present a detailed study of all 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes involving at least one top quark and a pair of EW bosons. We analyse the high energy behaviour of the amplitudes using the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) to parametrise the departures from the SM. We discuss the origin of the energy growth that arise from effective contact interactions by appealing to the Goldstone equivalence theorem and find that the amplitudes obey expected patterns of (non-)interference. The results are connected to unitary-violating behaviour in the framework of anomalous SM interactions. Therein, we identify the appearance of additional growth due to the violation of SU(2) gauge symmetry that leads to substantial differences between the SMEFT and the anomalous couplings approaches. We also discuss the embeddings of the scattering amplitudes into physical collider processes, presenting the parametric SMEFT sensitivity to relevant top quark operators and paying special attention to the extent to which the high energy behaviour of the 2 → 2 amplitude is retained in the actual processes accessible at colliders. The effective W approximation is exploited to gain analytical insight into the embeddings of the 2 → 2 helicity amplitudes. Finally, we provide a compendium of processes detailing numerous directions in which the SMEFT parameter space can be accessed through high energy top quark processes in current and future colliders.

Abstract We study the production of a Higgs boson in association with bottom quarks b b ¯ H $$ \left(b\overline{b}H\right) $$ in hadronic collisions at the LHC, including the different contributions stemming from terms proportional to the top-quark Yukawa coupling (y t 2 ), to the bottom-quark one (y b 2 ), and to their interference (y b y t ). Our results are accurate to next-to-leading order in QCD, employ the four-flavour scheme and the (Born-improved) heavy-top quark approximation. We find that next-to-leading order corrections to the y t 2 component are sizable, making it the dominant production mechanism for associated b b ¯ H $$ b\overline{b}H $$ production in the Standard Model and increasing its inclusive rate by almost a factor of two. By studying final-state distributions of the various contributions, we identify observables and selection cuts that can be used to select the various components and to improve the experimental sensitivity of b b ¯ H $$ b\overline{b}H $$ production on the bottom-quark Yukawa coupling.

Abstract A wealth of new physics models which are motivated by questions such as the nature of dark matter, the origin of the neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry in the universe, predict the existence of hidden sectors featuring new particles. Among the possibilities are heavy neutral leptons, vectors and scalars, that feebly interact with the Standard Model (SM) sector and are typically light and long lived. Such new states could be produced in high-intensity facilities, the so-called beam dump experiments, either directly in the hard interaction or as a decay product of heavier mesons. They could then decay back to the SM or to hidden sector particles, giving rise to peculiar decay or interaction signatures in a far-placed detector. Simulating such kind of events presents a challenge, as not only short-distance new physics (hard production, hadron decays, and interaction with the detector) and usual SM phenomena need to be described but also the geometry of the detector has to be taken into account for a reliable estimate of the event yield and distributions. In this work, we describe a new plugin to the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO platform, which allows the complete simulation of new physics processes relevant for beam dump experiments, including the various mechanisms for the production of hidden particles, namely their decays or scattering off SM particles, as well as their far detection, keeping into account spatial correlations and the geometry of the experiment.

Abstract We present a novel framework for carrying out global analyses of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) at dimension-six: SMEFiT. This approach is based on the Monte Carlo replica method for deriving a faithful estimate of the experimental and theoretical uncertainties and enables one to construct the probability distribution in the space of the SMEFT degrees of freedom. As a proof of concept of the SMEFiT methodology, we present a first study of the constraints on the SMEFT provided by top quark production measurements from the LHC. Our analysis includes more than 30 independent measurements from 10 different processes at s $$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 8 and 13 TeV such as inclusive t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ and single-top production and the associated production of top quarks with weak vector bosons and the Higgs boson. State-of-the-art theoretical calculations are adopted both for the Standard Model and for the SMEFT contributions, where in the latter case NLO QCD corrections are included for the majority of processes. We derive bounds for the 34 degrees of freedom relevant for the interpretation of the LHC top quark data and compare these bounds with previously reported constraints. Our study illustrates the significant potential of LHC precision measurements to constrain physics beyond the Standard Model in a model-independent way, and paves the way towards a global analysis of the SMEFT.

Abstract We present a sensitivity study on the cubic and quartic self couplings in double Higgs production via gluon fusion at hadron colliders. Considering the relevant operators in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory up to dimension eight, we calculate the dominant contributions up to two-loop level, where the first dependence on the quartic interaction appears. Our approach allows to study the independent variations of the two self couplings and to clearly identify the terms necessary to satisfy gauge invariance and to obtain UV-finite results order by order in perturbation theory. We focus on the b b ¯ γ γ $$ b\overline{b}\gamma \gamma $$ signature for simplicity and provide the expected bounds for the cubic and quartic self couplings at the 14 TeV LHC with 3000 fb−1 (HL-LHC) and for a future 100 TeV collider (FCC-100) with 30 ab−1. We find that while the HL-LHC will provide very limited sensitivity on the quartic self coupling, precision measurements of double Higgs production at a FCC-100 will offer the opportunity to set competitive bounds. We show that combining information from double and triple Higgs production leads to significantly improved prospects for the determination of the quartic self coupling.

Abstract At the LHC, top quarks can be produced singly with a sizeable rate via electroweak interactions. This process probes a limited set of top-quark electroweak couplings, i.e., the same entering the top-quark decay, yet at higher scales and with a different sensitivity. Requiring the production of a Z or H boson in association with single-top significantly extends the sensitivity of this process to new physics, opening up the unique possibility of testing top-Higgs, top-gauge, triple gauge, gauge-Higgs interactions without being dominated by QCD interactions. We consider tZj and tHj production at the LHC, providing predictions at next-to-leading accuracy in QCD in the framework of the standard model effective field theory, including all relevant operators up to dimension six. We perform the first complete study of the sensitivity to new interactions of these processes, highlighting the interplay and complementarity among tj, tZj and tHj in simultaneously constraining top-quark, triple gauge, and gauge-Higgs interactions in the current and future runs at the LHC.

Abstract Anomalous self-interactions of non-abelian gauge fields can be described by higher dimensional operators featuring gauge-invariant combinations of the field strengths. In the case of QCD, the gluon self-interactions start to be modified at dimension six by operators of the type GGG, with G the gluon field strength tensor, possibly leading to deviations in all observables and measurements that probe strong interactions at very small distances. In this work we consider the sensitivity to the triple gluon operator of a series of observables at the LHC in di-jet, three- and multi-jet final states and heavy-quark production. We critically re-examine the robustness of long-standing as well as more recent proposals addressing issues such as the validity of the EFT expansion and the impact of higher order QCD corrections. Our results support the conclusion that multi-jet observables can reliably bound these anomalous interactions to the level that their impact on other key observables at the LHC, involving for example top quark and Higgs production, can be safely neglected. We also highlight the potential of using previously suggested angular observables in three-jet events at the LHC to further constrain these interactions.

Abstract We perform a study of lepton-pair production in association with bottom quarks at the LHC based on the predictions obtained at next-to-leading order in QCD, both at fixed order and matched with a QCD parton shower. We consider a comprehensive set of observables and estimate the associated theoretical uncertainties by studying the dependence on the perturbative QCD scales (renormalisation, factorisation and shower) and by comparing different parton-shower models (Pythia8 and Herwig++) and matching schemes (MC@NLO and POWHEG). Based on these results, we propose a simple procedure to include bottom-quark effects in neutral-current Drell-Yan production, going beyond the standard massless approximation. Focusing on the inclusive lepton-pair transverse-momentum distribution p⊥ℓ+ℓ− $$ {p}_{\perp}^{\ell^{+}\ell -} $$, we quantify the impact of such effects on the tuning of the simulation of charged-current Drell-Yan observables and the W-boson mass determination.

Abstract We study the sensitivity to the shape of the Higgs potential of single, double, and triple Higgs production at future e + e − colliders. Physics beyond the Standard Model is parameterised through the inclusion of higher-dimensional operators (Φ†Φ−v 2 /2) n /Λ(2n−4) with n = 3, 4, which allows a consistent treatment of independent deviations of the cubic and quartic self-couplings beyond the tree level. We calculate the effects induced by a modified potential up to one loop in single and double Higgs production and at the tree level in triple Higgs production, for both Z boson associated and W boson fusion production mechanisms. We consider two different scenarios. First, the dimension six operator provides the dominant contribution (as expected, for instance, in a linear effective-field-theory (EFT)); we find in this case that the corresponding Wilson coefficient can be determined at O10% $$ \mathcal{O}\left(10\%\right) $$ accuracy by just combining accurate measurements of single Higgs cross sections at s^=240−250 $$ \sqrt{\widehat{s}}=240-250 $$ GeV and double Higgs production in W boson fusion at higher energies. Second, both operators of dimension six and eight can give effects of similar order, i.e., independent quartic self-coupling deviations are present. Constraints on Wilson coefficients can be best tested by combining measurements from single, double and triple Higgs production. Given that the sensitivity of single Higgs production to the dimension eight operator is presently unknown, we consider double and triple Higgs production and show that combining their information colliders at higher energies will provide first coarse constraints on the corresponding Wilson coefficient.

Abstract We study one-loop effects induced by an anomalous Higgs trilinear coupling on total and differential rates for the $$H\rightarrow 4\ell $$ H → 4 ℓ decay and some of the main single-Higgs production channels at the LHC, namely, VBF, VH, $$t{\bar{t}}H$$ t t ¯ H and tHj. Our results are based on a public code that calculates these effects by simply reweighting samples of Standard-Model-like events for a given production channel. For VH and $$t{\bar{t}}H$$ t t ¯ H production, where differential effects are particularly relevant, we include Standard Model electroweak corrections, which have similar sizes but different kinematic dependences. Finally, we study the sensitivity of future LHC runs to determine the trilinear coupling via inclusive and differential measurements, considering also the case where the Higgs couplings to vector bosons and the top quark is affected by new physics. We find that the constraints on the couplings and the relevance of differential distributions critically depend on the expected experimental and theoretical uncertainties.

Abstract We provide the complete set of predictions needed to achieve NLO accuracy in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory at dimension six for Higgs production in gluon fusion. In particular, we compute for the first time the contribution of the chromomagnetic operator Q¯LΦσqRG $$ {\overline{Q}}_L\varPhi \sigma {q}_RG $$ at NLO in QCD, which entails two-loop virtual and one-loop real contributions, as well as renormalisation and mixing with the Yukawa operator Φ†ΦQ¯LΦqR $$ {\varPhi}^{\dagger}\varPhi\ {\overline{Q}}_L\varPhi {q}_R $$ and the gluon-fusion operator Φ†Φ GG. Focusing on the top-quark-Higgs couplings, we consider the phenomenological impact of the NLO corrections in constraining the three relevant operators by implementing the results into the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO frame-work. This allows us to compute total cross sections as well as to perform event generation at NLO that can be directly employed in experimental analyses.

We obtain predictions accurate at the next-to-leading order in QCD for the production of a generic spin-two particle in the most relevant channels at the LHC: production in association with coloured particles (inclusive, one jet, two jets and tt¯), with vector bosons (Z,W±,γ) and with the Higgs boson. We present total and differential cross sections as well as branching ratios as a function of the mass and the collision energy also considering the case of non-universal couplings to standard model particles. We find that the next-to-leading order corrections give rise to sizeable K factors for many channels, in some cases exposing the unitarity-violating behaviour of non-universal couplings scenarios, and in general greatly reduce the theoretical uncertainties. Our predictions are publicly available in the MadGraph5_aMC@NLO framework and can, therefore, be directly used in experimental simulations of spin-two particle production for arbitrary values of the mass and couplings.

Abstract We have found that the definition of the operator O1 $$ {\mathcal{O}}_1 $$ given in equation (2.2) and the one actually used to derive our results, including the renormalisation matrix, the anomalous dimension matrix and the RGE solutions presented in the paper, differ by an overall minus sign.