Florencia Canelli - Exploring new physics with top quarks

Twenty years after its discovery the top quark is still the heaviest elementary particle known. Due to its large mass, the top quark plays a special role in the standard model of particle physics, coupling much more strongly to the newly discovered Higgs boson than any other particle. Also as a consequence of its large mass, the top quark is often present in theories extending our current understanding of the standard model. In particular, dark matter may be produced in association with top quarks and be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider. In this talk, I will discuss the central role of the top quark and the windows that it opens for seeking new physics beyond the standard model. I’ll focus on some of the recent results of the CMS experiment at the LHC.