Observation of quantum entanglement in top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Rept.Prog.Phys. 87 (2024) 117801, 2024.
Inspire Record 2795514 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.145665

Entanglement is an intrinsic property of quantum mechanics and is predicted to be exhibited in the particles produced at the Large Hadron Collider. A measurement of the extent of entanglement in top quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$) events produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is performed with the data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.3 fb$^{-1}$. The events are selected based on the presence of two leptons with opposite charges and high transverse momentum. An entanglement-sensitive observable $D$ is derived from the top quark spin-dependent parts of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ production density matrix and measured in the region of the $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ production threshold. Values of $D$$\lt$$-$1/3 are evidence of entanglement and $D$ is observed (expected) to be $-$0.480 $^{+0.026}_{-0.029}$$(-$0.467 $^{+0.026}_{-0.029})$ at the parton level. With an observed significance of 5.1 standard deviations with respect to the non-entangled hypothesis, this provides observation of quantum mechanical entanglement within $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ pairs in this phase space. This measurement provides a new probe of quantum mechanics at the highest energies ever produced.

3 data tables

Expected and observed values for the entanglement proxy D in the parton-level phase space of $m(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 400$ and $\beta_z(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 0.9$ when including contributions from the ground state of toponium, $\eta_{\mathrm{t}}$. The first uncertainty is the statistical uncertainty whereas the second uncertainty is the systematic uncertainty.

Expected and observed values for the entanglement proxy D in the parton-level phase space of $m(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 400$ and $\beta_z(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 0.9$ when excluding contributions from the ground state of toponium, $\eta_{\mathrm{t}}$. The first uncertainty is the statistical uncertainty whereas the second uncertainty is the systematic uncertainty.

Expected values from various Monte Carlo predictions for the entanglement proxy D in the parton-level phase space of $m(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 400$ and $\beta_z(\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) < 0.9$ both when excluding and including contributions from the ground state of toponium, $\eta_{\mathrm{t}}$. The first uncertainty is the Monte Carlo statistical uncertainty whereas the second uncertainty is the systematic uncertainty which includes PDF and scale uncertainties.


Version 2
Measurement of the total cross section and $\rho$-parameter from elastic scattering in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS collaboration Aad, Georges ; Abbott, Braden Keim ; Abbott, D.C. ; et al.
Eur.Phys.J.C 83 (2023) 441, 2023.
Inspire Record 2122408 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.128017

In a special run of the LHC with $\beta^\star = 2.5~$km, proton-proton elastic-scattering events were recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 13~$TeV with an integrated luminosity of $340~\mu \textrm{b}^{-1}$ using the ALFA subdetector of ATLAS in 2016. The elastic cross section was measured differentially in the Mandelstam $t$ variable in the range from $-t = 2.5 \cdot 10^{-4}~$GeV$^{2}$ to $-t = 0.46~$GeV$^{2}$ using 6.9 million elastic-scattering candidates. This paper presents measurements of the total cross section $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$, parameters of the nuclear slope, and the $\rho$-parameter defined as the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of the elastic-scattering amplitude in the limit $t \rightarrow 0$. These parameters are determined from a fit to the differential elastic cross section using the optical theorem and different parameterizations of the $t$-dependence. The results for $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$ and $\rho$ are \begin{equation*} \sigma_{\textrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X) = \mbox{104.7} \pm 1.1 \; \mbox{mb} , \; \; \; \rho = \mbox{0.098} \pm 0.011 . \end{equation*} The uncertainty in $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$ is dominated by the luminosity measurement, and in $\rho$ by imperfect knowledge of the detector alignment and by modelling of the nuclear amplitude.

11 data tables

The measured total cross section. The systematic uncertainty includes experimental and theoretical uncerainties.

The rho-parameter, i.e. the ratio of the real to imaginary part of the elastic scattering amplitude extrapolated to t=0. The systematic uncertainty includes experimental and theoretical uncerainties.

The nuclear slope parameter B from a fit of the form exp(-Bt-Ct^2-Dt^3). The systematic uncertainty includes experimental and theoretical uncerainties.

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