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.
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.
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