Sneaky light stop

A light supersymmetric top quark partner (stop) with a mass nearly degenerate with that of the standard model (SM) top quark can evade direct searches. The precise measurement of SM top properties such as the cross-section has been suggested to give a handle for this ‘stealth stop’ scenario. We present an estimate of the potential impact a light stop may have on top quark mass measurements. The results indicate that certain light stop models may induce a bias of up to a few GeV, and that this effect can hide the shift in, and hence sensitivity from, cross-section measurements. Due to the different initial states, the size of the bias is slightly different between the LHC and the Tevatron. The studies make some simplifying assumptions for the top quark measurement technique, and are based on truth-level samples.