Constraining scalar resonances with top-quark pair production at the LHC

Abstract Constraints on models which predict resonant top-quark pair production at the LHC are provided via a reinterpretation of the Standard Model (SM) particle level measurement of the top-anti-top invariant mass distribution, m t t ¯ $$ m\left(t\overline{t}\right) $$ . We make use of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo event simulation to perform a direct comparison with measurements of m t t ¯ $$ m\left(t\overline{t}\right) $$ in the semi-leptonic channels, considering both the boosted and the resolved regime of the hadronic top decays. A simplified model to describe various scalar resonances decaying into top-quarks is considered, including CP-even and CP-odd, color-singlet and color-octet states, and the excluded regions in the respective parameter spaces are provided