This paper explores the effects of finite width in processes of pair production of an extra heavy quark with charge $2/3$ (top partner) and its subsequent decay into a bosonic dark matter (DM) candidate—either scalar or vector—and SM up-type quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This dynamics has been ignored so far in standard experimental searches of heavy quarks decaying to DM and we assess herein the regions of validity of current approaches, based on the assumption that the extra quarks have a narrow width. Further, we discuss the configurations of masses, widths and couplings where the latter breaks down.

• Received 31 May 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.035033

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society