Exploring the impact of high-precision top-quark pair production data on the structure of the proton at the LHC

Abstract

The impact of recent LHC top-quark pair production single differential cross section measurements at 13 TeV collision energy on the structure of the proton is explored. In particular, the impact of these high-precision data on the gluon and other parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton at intermediate and large partonic momentum fraction $x$ is analyzed. This study extends the CT18 global analysis framework to include these new data. The interplay between top-quark pair and inclusive jet production as well as other processes at the LHC, is studied. In addition, a study of the impact of scale choice on the theory description of the new 13 TeV $t\bar{t}$ measurements is performed.

Comments: 53 pages, 26 figures, regular article. Version accepted for a publication in Phys.Rev.D