Search for single production of vector-like top partners at the Large Hadron Electron Collider

The new vector-like top partners with charge 2/3 are a typical feature of many new physics models beyond the Standard Model (SM). We propose a search strategy for single production of top partners T focusing on both the T→Wb and T→th decay channels at the Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC). Our analysis is based on a simplified model in which the top partner is an SU(2) singlet, with couplings only to the third generation of SM quarks. We study the observability of the single T through the processes e+p→T(→bW+)ν¯e→bℓ++E̸Tmiss and e+p→T(→th)ν¯e→t(→jj′b)h(→bb¯)E̸Tmiss at the LHeC with the proposed 140 GeV electron beam (with 80% polarization) and 7 TeV proton beam. For three typical T-quark masses (800, 900 and 1000 GeV), the 3σ exclusion limits on the TWb coupling are respectively presented for various values of the integrated luminosity.