Single lepton charge asymmetries in $t \bar t$ and $t \bar t \gamma$ production at the LHC

Abstract

We discuss lepton charge asymmetries in $t \bar t$ and $t \bar t \gamma$ production at the LHC, which can be measured in the semileptonic decay channel $t \bar t \to W^+ b \, W^- \bar b \to \ell^+ \nu b \, q \bar q' \bar b$ (or the charge conjugate). Considering several variants of a new physics scenario with a light colour octet, it is seen that for $t \bar t$ these asymmetries may have a sensitivity competitive with the dilepton asymmetry already measured. For $t \bar t \gamma$ the new leptonic asymmetries, as well as the $t \bar t$ charge asymmetry, will reach their full potential with the high luminosity LHC upgrade. These asymmetries can pinpoint deviations at the $3\sigma-4\sigma$ level for new physics scenarios where the charge asymmetries already measured in $t \bar t$ production agree within $1\sigma$.