Probing new physics with four top quarks

ongoing

At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), protons are collided at the highest possible energy to generate subatomic elementary particles. We use the results of these collisions to understand our universe at the most fundamental level. Many theorists believe that new physics exists at a very high energy. The top quark is the heaviest elementary particle known to date with unique properties. It is therefore naturally suspected to have hidden connections with new physics. The simultaneous production of four top-quarks (tttt) is the most energetic process accessible with the LHC, making it a unique place to search for heavy new physics, which are less likely to appear elsewhere. The first evidence of these extremely rare events was only revealed last year, and we know very little about them. With the world-record energy at LHC Run3 (13.6 TeV), we expect 20% higher tttt events production rate. This offers a timely opportunity to further study this process. With an aim to find new physics, we will study tttt events in unprecedented detail with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. We will measure the inclusive production rate and the kinematic properties of these events. We will use the measured results to probe new physics, with unique approaches that do not rely on new physics predictions made upon specific assumptions (which could be wrong). The results have the potential to reveal new physics that are too energetic and beyond the reach of the LHC. This will be the first time this is done for tttt events. The measured tttt event kinematics will be corrected to remove effects from the detector resolution and acceptance. This allows theorists to directly test their new physics predictions against the experimental results, continuously generating impact in the relevant scientific community. We will combine the results of tttt events with those of other types of events containing top quarks to build a global picture of the top quark in terms of its subtle connections to new physics.