Boosted top quark inspired leptoquark searches at the muon collider

Abstract

The proposed muon collider presents a promising avenue to explore various classes of beyond the standard model (BSM) particles. In this paper, we investigate the discovery prospects of the scalar leptoquark (sLQ) $S_1$ at a muon collider. We consider two benchmark center-of-mass (C.O.M.) energy scenarios: 5 TeV and 10 TeV. We assume that the LQ decays into a top quark and a muon. The collider analysis for an LQ decaying into a top quark is distinct from that of lighter quarks. A TeV-scale sLQ decaying into a top quark can produce an exotic, boosted fat-jet signature. In addition to the usual searches based on pair production of sLQs, we also examine the single production mode, which depends on the $S_{1}t\mu$ coupling. We demonstrate that systematically combining the pair and single production modes significantly enhances the discovery potential of the sLQ at the muon collider. Our signal topology includes at least one hadronically decaying top fat-jet and two oppositely charged muons, thereby enabling the incorporation of the single production mode. We show that even with single production alone, it is possible to probe sLQs as heavy as 4.5 TeV (9.0 TeV) in the 5 TeV (10 TeV) C.O.M. scenario for $O\left(1\right)$ couplings.