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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Probing top-quark electroweak couplings indirectly at the Electron-Ion Collider

Xu-Hui Jiang1,2,*, Yiming Liu3,*, and Bin Yan1,4,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: yanbin@ihep.ac.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 112, L111303 – Published 12 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w9wl-cjzq

Abstract

Top quark electroweak interactions serve as a sensitive probe for beyond-Standard-Model physics, potentially exhibiting significant deviations from Standard Model predictions and offering crucial tests of fundamental symmetries in ultraviolet physics. This paper investigates their measurement through deep inelastic scattering (DIS) processes involving top quark loops at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), within the Standard Model effective field theory framework. We demonstrate that left-handed electron beam polarization can significantly enhance DIS cross sections for these interactions compared to right-handed scenario, highlighting the pivotal role of high polarization at the EIC in constraining these couplings. Compared to direct pp→tt¯Z measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), DIS measurements could significantly improve these coupling constraints and effectively resolve parameter space degeneracies present in LHC data. Moreover, the expected precision from the EIC’s high-luminosity phase matches that of LEP electroweak precision measurements, underscoring the EIC’s significant potential to probe top quark properties.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, L111303– Published 12 December, 2025
  • Received 5 August 2025
  • Accepted 25 November 2025
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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. Funded by SCOAP3.

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