Using the $W$ as a Standard Candle to Reach the Top: Calibrating Energy Correlator Based Top Mass Measurements

Abstract

The top quark mass is a key parameter of the Standard Model, yet measuring it precisely at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is challenging. Inspired by the use of standard candles in cosmology, we propose a novel energy correlator-based observable, which directly accesses the dimensionless quantity $m_t$/$m_W$. We perform a Monte Carlo study to demonstrate the feasibility of the top mass extraction from Run 2, 3, and High-Luminosity LHC datasets. Our resulting $m_t$ can be defined in a well-controlled short-distance mass scheme and exhibits remarkably small uncertainties from nonperturbative effects, as well as insensitivity to parton distribution functions, outlining a roadmap for a record precision measurement at the LHC.

Comments: 6 pages, 4 beautiful figures; journal version (v2); includes an expanded discussion in the supplementary material detailing changes between v1 and v2 of the analysis using Herwig and on the impact of transverse momentum power corrections