Chinese Physics C Vol. 38, No. 11 (2014) 113102
Top quark forward-backward asymmetry in the little Higgs model
*
GUO Xing-Dao()
1
ZHANG Yin-Jie()
1
ZHAO Shu-Min()
1;1)
FENG Tai-Fu()
1;2)
YUAN Xu-Hao()
2
LI Xue-Qian()
3
1
Department of Ph ysics and Technology, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
2
Center for High Energy Physics, Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
3
Department of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Abstract: A sizable difference in top quark pair forward backward asymmetry (AFB) is observed at Tevatron. The
discrepancy triggers many new physics beyond the standard model (SM) and then constrains the parameter spaces
in them. In this article we calculate the AFB of the top-pair production at Tevatron up to next to leading order
(NLO) in the little Higgs model (LHM). We find that the contribution of Z
H
can be large enough to make up the gap
between SM prediction and experimental data. Then, the parameter space for the couplings between Z
H
and quarks
are constrained. Thus, this model can fulfill the experimental data, both in AFB and in cross section.
Key words: forward-backward asymmetry, little Higgs model, one-loop diagram, Feynman amplitude
PACS : 11.30.Er, 12.60.Jv DOI: 10.1088/1674-1137/38/11/113102
1 Introduction
In recent years, the top quark pair production and its
decays have been investigated theoretically and experi-
mentally [1–3]. Although the theoretical predictions for
the total cross section of top quark pair production [4–
6] are in agreement with the experimental results [7, 8],
the top quark forward-backward asymmetry (AFB) be-
tween theoretical predictions and experimental data are
in discrepancy. The AFB in the t
¯
t rest frame is defined
as
A
FB
≡
N
t
(y
t
−y
¯
t
>0)−N
t
(y
t
−y
¯
t
<0)
N
t
(y
t
−y
¯
t
>0)+N
t
(y
t
−y
¯
t
<0)
, (1)
where Δy=y
t
−y
¯
t
is the difference of the rapidities of out-
going t and
¯
t. The difference of the rapidities of outgoing
tand
¯
t is directly related to θ as [9]
Δy=y
t
−y
¯
t
=2arctanh
1−
4m
2
t
ˆs
cosθ
, (2)
where ˆs =(p
t
+p
¯
t
)
2
, θ is the angle spanned between the
outgoing top quark and incoming proton beam, and the
rapidity is defined as
y
t
=
1
2
ln
E
t
+p
t
E
t
−p
t
, (3)
where E
t
and p
t
stand for the energy and longitudinal
component of the momentum of the top quark, respec-
tively. The sign of Δy = y
t
−y
¯
t
is the same as cosθ,so
that the asymmetry in Eq. (1) can be re-defined as
A
FB
=
N
t
(cosθ>0)−N
t
(cosθ<0)
N
t
(cosθ>0)+N
t
(cosθ<0)
. (4)
The measurements of the CDF and D0 Collaborations
yield A
FB
=0.158±0.075 [10], A
FB
=0.162±0.047 [11] and
A
FB
=0.196±0.065 [12], and the central values are signifi-
cantly larger than the Standard Model (SM) prediction,
A
SM
FB
=0.089 [13]. This discrepancy has motivated peo-
ple to consider additional contributions from new physics
beyond SM (BSM) [14, 15].
In some models, an exchange of new particles of color-
octet at the s-channel contributes [16–18]. Instead, a
color singlet particle that mediates the interaction may
also provide a substantial contribution through the t-
channel if it has both vector and axial vector coupling
to q¯qandt
¯
t [9]. This kind of model receives severe con-
straints from the data of the t
¯
t production rate. How-
ever, as one notices, a color singlet particle can also make
a substantial contribution to the AFB through s-channel
Received 28 February 2014, Revised 3 June 2014
∗ Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (10975027, 11275036, 11047002), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei
Province (A2013201277 , A2011201118) Natural Science Fund of Hebei University (2011JQ05, 2007113), open project of State Key
Laboratory of Mathematics-Mechanization (Y3KF311CJ1) and Natural Science Fund of Hebei Unive rsit y (2011JQ05, 2012-242)
1) E-mail: zhaosm@mail.hbu.edu.cn
2) E-mail: fengtf@dlut.edu.cn
Cont ent from this work may be used under the terms of the Creativ e Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further
distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Article funded
by SCOAP
3
and published under licence by Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy
of Sciences and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd
113102-1