Spin Correlations in $t\bar{t}$ Production and Decay at the LHC in Perturbative QCD

Abstract

Among recent developments in top-quark physics at the LHC, the production of top-quark pairs near threshold has attracted considerable attention, partly due to tensions between data and theoretical predictions. We show that reliable predictions for threshold-sensitive observables, such as spin correlations and the differential distribution in the $t\bar{t}$ invariant mass, can be obtained in perturbation theory by retaining the first few powers of $α_s/v$, where $v$ is the relative velocity of the top quarks. Applying this approach to reweight nominal Monte Carlo predictions for spin-sensitive observables, we find good agreement with data. We also discuss how threshold effects, including bound-state contributions, can be incorporated on an event-by-event basis into fully differential Monte Carlo event generators.