Probing new physics in the top sector using quantum information
Rafael Aoude, Hannah Banks, Chris D. White, Martin J. White · Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2026
Recent studies have shown that quantitative concepts from quantum information theory can play a role in analyzing collider physics, including elucidating new physics. In this paper, we study various quantum information measures including , , and , in generic new physics scenarios modeled by the standard model effective field theory. We argue that such measures can indeed show up differences with respect to the pure standard model, and we compare our results with similar findings for the discussed previously in the literature. We examine the relative sensitivity of different measures to new physics in two-dimensional bins of the top pair invariant mass and scattering angle, finding that the concurrence, magic, and trace distance each emerge as the best measure in at least some regions of the phase space. This highlights the importance of exploring multiple quantum information measures in the hunt for beyond the standard model physics.