(Light) Stop Signs

Abstract

Stop squarks with a mass just above the top’s and which decay to a nearly massless LSP are difficult to probe because of the large SM di-top background. Here we discuss search strategies which could be used to set more stringent bounds in this difficult region. In particular, we note that both the rapidity difference (\Delta y(t, \bar{t})) and spin correlations (inferred from, for example, (\Delta \phi(l^+, l^−))) are sensitive to the presence of stops. We emphasize that systematic uncertainties in top quark production can confound analyses looking for stops, making theoretical and experimental progress on the understanding of Standard Model top production at high precision a very important task. We estimate that spin correlation alone, which is relatively robust against such systematic uncertainties, can exclude a 200 GeV stop at 95% confidence with (20 fb^{−1}) at the 8 TeV LHC.