Improving top quark induced charge asymmetries at the LHC using ttbar transverse momentum

Abstract

We study how the significance of top quark induced charge asymmetries at the LHC may be enhanced exploiting the tt̄ total transverse momentum to enrich the fraction of quark-fusion events in the sample. We combine this variable with previous variables related to the boost and the invariant mass of the tt̄ pair to find an optimum cut which maximizes the significance of the asymmetry when systematic and statistic errors are taken into account. We find that including the tt̄ transverse momentum in the analysis of the expected 2012 LHC data provides a considerable enhancement in the significance of the asymmetry. © 2012 American Physical Society.