Constraining new physics in entangled two-qubit systems: top-quark, tau-lepton and photon pairs

Marco Fabbrichesi; Roberto Floreanini; Emidio Gabrielli

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11307-2

2024 Impact factor 4.8

Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83: 162
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11307-2

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Constraining new physics in entangled two-qubit systems: top-quark, tau-lepton and photon pairs

Marco Fabbrichesi¹, Roberto Floreanini¹ and Emidio Gabrielli¹^,2^,3^c

¹ INFN, Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio 2, 34127, Trieste, Italy
² Physics Department, University of Trieste, Strada Costiera 11, 34151, Trieste, Italy
³ NICPB, Ravala 10, 10143, Tallinn, Estonia

^c emidio.gabrielli@cern.ch

Received: 1 November 2022
Accepted: 3 February 2023
Published online: 19 February 2023

Abstract

The measurement of quantum entanglement can provide a new and most sensitive probe to physics beyond the Standard Model. We use the concurrence of the top-quark pair spin states produced at colliders to constrain the magnetic dipole term in the coupling between top quark and gluons, that of $τ$ $\tau$ -lepton pair spin states to bound contact interactions and that of $τ$ $\tau$ -lepton pairs or two-photons spin states from the decay of the Higgs boson in trying to distinguish between CP-even and odd couplings. These four examples show the power of the new approach as well as its limitations. We show that differences in the entanglement in the top-quark and $τ$ $\tau$ -lepton pair production cross sections can provide constraints better than those previously estimated from total cross sections or classical correlations. Instead, the final states in the decays of the Higgs boson remain maximally entangled even in the presence of CP-odd couplings and cannot be used to set bounds on new physics. We discuss the violation of Bell inequalities featured in all four processes.

© The Author(s) 2023

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