Feasibility of top quark measurements at LHCb and constraints on the large-$x$ gluon PDF

Abstract

The forward LHCb acceptance opens interesting possibilities of studying precision Standard Model hard processes in a kinematical region beyond the reach of ATLAS and CMS. In this paper we perform a feasibility study for cross-section measurements of top quark pairs with the LHCb detector, with an analysis of signal and background rates for selected final states, and determine the potential precision achievable at $\sqrt{s}=$ 7 and 14~TeV. We then study the dependence of theoretical uncertainties on the pseudorapidity distribution of top quarks produced in pair production at NLO, and observe that a cross-section measurement at high pseudorapidity has enhanced sensitivity to probe the high-$x$ gluon PDF as compared to measurements in the central-region. Based on simulated pseudodata, the impact of a 14~TeV cross-section measurement on the gluon PDF and charge asymmetry is quantified.

25 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. Extended PDF analysis to include ABM11 5flv nlo. Added summary plots of LHCb cross-sections. Include shift of gluon PDF central value for CT10, NNPDF sets assuming different pseudodata values. Matches version to be published in JHEP