The top quark charge asymmetry in $t\bar{t}\gamma$ production at the LHC

Abstract

We consider the top quark charge asymmetry in the process $pp \to t\bar{t}+\gamma$ at the 13 TeV LHC. The genuine tree level asymmetry in the $q\bar{q}$ channel is large with about -12%. However, the symmetric $gg$ channel, photon radiation off top quark decay products, and higher order corrections wash out the asymmetry and obscure its observability. In this work, we investigate these effects at next-to-leading order QCD and check the robustness of theoretical predictions. We find a sizable perturbative correction and discuss its origins and implications. We also study dedicated cuts for enhancing the asymmetry and show that a measurement is possible with an integrated luminosity of 150 fb$^{-1}$.