We investigate how possible new CP-violating top-quark interactions are encoded in the quantum state of a produced $t\bar t$ pair. We derive analytic expressions for the production density matrix in several benchmark channels relevant to hadron, lepton and photon colliders. In a common spin basis, we identify two characteristic CP-odd structures in the Fano--Bloch decomposition: a difference between the top and antitop polarisation vectors and an antisymmetric component of the spin-correlation matrix. We construct observables that directly probe these structures and study how quantum information measures, including discord, concurrence, magic and trace distance, respond to CP-even and CP-odd SMEFT contributions. Finally, using current measurements and future collider projections, we assess the sensitivity of these observables to possible new sources of CP violation in top-quark production. This establishes the production-level framework whose experimental reconstruction is developed in a companion paper.
We develop a quantum-tomographic framework for determining whether possible CP-odd effects in $t\bar t$ events originate in production, in decay, or in both. In the narrow-width approximation, the process $I\to t\bar t\to b\ell^+\nu\,\bar b\ell^-\bar\nu$ factorises into a production density matrix and top and antitop decay density matrices. We extend the standard tomography procedure to a general anomalous $Wtb$ vertex and derive the corresponding angular distributions. Polar-angle distributions retain their usual tomographic form, up to modifications of the spin-analysing powers, and can therefore be used to reconstruct the production density matrix and test its CP properties. By contrast, dedicated azimuthal observables involving the $b$--lepton decay planes contain characteristic sine modulations that provide linear probes of possible new CP-violating interactions in the decay vertex. Combining the two classes of observables gives a systematic strategy for separating sources of CP violation in production and in decay. We illustrate the resulting angular signatures for representative $t\bar t$ production scenarios at hadron and lepton colliders.
P. Lamba, F. Maltoni, Olimpia Miniati et al.· 0 citations
The naive-$T$-odd angular coefficients $A_5$--$A_7$ in Drell--Yan production are highly suppressed in the Standard Model (SM), making them sensitive probes of CP-violating interactions beyond the SM. We study these observables within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), focusing on dimension-six electroweak and chromomagnetic quark dipole operators. Due to their chirality-flipping structure, the leading contributions from CP-violating dipole interactions arise at $\mathcal{O}(1/\Lambda^4)$ through the interference between electroweak and chromomagnetic dipole amplitudes. We find that the sensitivity is primarily driven by $A_6$ and $A_7$ in the high dilepton transverse momentum region, where the dipole contributions are enhanced, while $A_5$ remains largely insensitive. Combining the ATLAS and CMS measurements, we constrain the CP-violating dipole combinations of Wilson coefficients at the $\mathcal{O}(0.1)$ level for $\Lambda=1~{\rm TeV}$. Assuming statistically dominated uncertainties at the HL-LHC, the sensitivity can be improved to the $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ level. Our results highlight $A_6$ and $A_7$ as complementary probes of CP-violating dipole interactions at hadron colliders.
LHC measurements now reconstruct all fifteen parameters of the $t\bar t$ two-qubit spin density matrix, which amounts to a full quantum tomography of the pair. We show that this data constrains CP violation in the top-Yukawa coupling. The coupling enters the density matrix at one loop and produces spin correlations that are odd under CP and do not affect the cross section. Using the first complete renormalized one-loop density matrix and the experimental covariance, we obtain complementary constraints comparable to those from direct tree-level $t\bar t H$ and $tH$ production.
Eren Erdogan, K. Mohan, K. Xie et al.· 0 citations
Quantum tomography program reconstructs the full spin density matrix of top-quark pairs from dilepton angular correlations at both electron-positron and hadron colliders. We use symmetry arguments to identify tomographic observables sensitive to CP violation in top quark couplings. As a concrete example, we study the sensitivity of these observables to (chromo-)electric dipole moment operators at the LHC and the FCC-ee. We also construct the optimal observable, which combines tomographic and kinematic information to achieve statistically optimal sensitivity for each operator and production process. The analysis is based on fast detector simulation of top pair production and decay in the dilepton channel. We project a $95\%$ CL sensitivity to new-physics scales (the inverse dipole couplings) of $10-15$ TeV for the electroweak electric dipoles at the FCC-ee ($365$ GeV, $3~{\rm ab}^{-1}$) and of 40 (200) TeV for the top chromo-electric dipole moment at the LHC Run 2 (HL-LHC). This sensitivities exceed those of the traditional observables currently used by experiments to use for these operators, indicating the power of the tomographic approach to search for CP violation.
M. Perelstein, Minal Shaik, Taewook Youn· 0 citations
We study quantum spin correlations in top-quark pair production at future lepton colliders in the presence of a neutral gauge boson from anomaly-free general $U(1)$ extensions of the Standard Model. The process $\ell^+\ell^-\to t\bar t$, with $\ell=e,\mu$, is analyzed through the spin-density matrix including $\gamma$, $Z$ and $Z^\prime$ exchange and their interference. We focus on quantum-information observables such as the sufficient entanglement marker $\mathcal{D}_{\min}$, concurrence, purity and the maximal Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) parameter, and compare their behavior with conventional rate information. Within the $U(1)_X$ framework, we consider several representative charge assignments to investigate how different chiral structures influence these observables, with particular emphasis on the $Z^\prime$ resonance region and polarized $e^-e^+$ collisions, where the two allowed initial-state helicity configurations can be selectively enhanced. We show that electron-beam polarization provides a direct handle on the left- and right-handed lepton charges of various $U(1)_X$ scenarios. These results demonstrate that quantum spin observables provide information complementary to cross sections and angular distributions in searches for chiral neutral gauge interactions.
Bottomonium production in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV is studied using a Lindblad master equation derived from potential non-relativistic quantum chromodynamics (QCD), where quantum regeneration of color-singlet states is matched to the lattice QCD imaginary potential via collapse operators. Two parametrizations of the in-medium heavy-quark potential, both constrained by lattice QCD data, are employed to compute the nuclear modification factors of $\Upsilon(1S)$, $\Upsilon(2S)$, and $\Upsilon(3S)$. The results show sensitivities to both the quantum regeneration effect and the initial condition of the density matrix. The dipole transitions in the collapse operators are found to significantly redistribute populations among different orbital angular momentum channels. It is shown that regeneration is more important when a potential with a larger imaginary part, i.e., stronger transitions between singlet and octet states, is used.
