Search for Pair Production of Heavy Resonances in Final States with a Photon and Large-Radius Jets in Proton-Proton Collisions at √s=13 TeV

Abstract

A search for the pair production of heavy spin-1/2 or spin-3/2 resonances (t*) in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented. Data collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC from 2016 to 2018 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb(-1) are used. The analysis targets benchmark signal scenarios where one t* decays into a top quark (t) and a photon (gamma), and the other into a t quark and a gluon (g), i.e., pp -> t*(t*) over bar -> tt gamma g. All-hadronic final states from the t pair decay chain are selected using jet substructure techniques. The signal is probed as a function of the t* candidate mass, which is reconstructed using the photon and a top quark candidate jet. No significant deviation from the background-only hypothesis is found. Observed (expected) upper limits on the signal cross section at 95% confidence level are set, excluding masses of spin-1/2 t* particles below 930 (930) GeV and spin-3/2 t* particles below 1330 (1390) GeV. This analysis marks the first search for heavy resonances in the t (t) over bar gamma g channel. Exploiting the high-energy photon to reduce the backgrounds, this search achieves sensitivity competitive with p -> t*(t*) over bar -> t (t) over bar gg searches for spin-1/2 t* despite the small expected t* -> t gamma branching fraction.