A measurement of the cross section for the production of top quark-antiquark pairs (${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}}$) in association with a vector boson V (W or Z) in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ $\, \text {TeV}$ is presented. The results are based on a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb$^{-1}$ recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measurement is performed in three leptonic (e and $\mu$) channels: a same-sign dilepton analysis targeting ${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} \mathrm {W} $ events, and trilepton and four-lepton analyses designed for ${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} {\mathrm {Z}} $ events. In the same-sign dilepton channel, the ${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} \mathrm {W} $ cross section is measured as $\sigma _{{\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} \mathrm {W}} = 170 ^{+90-80}\, \text {(stat)} \pm 70\, \text {(syst)} \, \text {fb} $, corresponding to a significance of 1.6 standard deviations over the background-only hypothesis. Combining the trilepton and four-lepton channels, a direct measurement of the ${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} {\mathrm {Z}} $ cross section, $\sigma _{{\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} {\mathrm {Z}}} = 200 ^{+80-70}\, \text {(stat)} ^{+40-30}\, \text {(syst)} \mathrm{fb}^{-1} $, is obtained with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations. The measured cross sections are compatible with standard model predictions within their experimental uncertainties. The inclusive ${\mathrm {t}}\overline{{\mathrm {t}}} {\mathrm {V}} $ process is observed with a significance of 3.7 standard deviations from the combination of all three leptonic channels.

A search for Z boson production with associated top-antitop pairs is performed with a final state which contains trileptons and b-tagged jets. The measurement is performed on the complete dataset of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected at the CMS detector, for a total instantaneous luminosity of 19.5 fb−1. A cross section is calculated for this final state and compared to the standard model prediction. The cross section for tt̄Z production is measured to be sigma=194+105/−89 fb. The measured cross section to theoretical cross section ratio is 0.94+0̇̇̇·51/−43. The process is measured with a significance of 2.33. This measurement is then combined with an outside 4 lepton channel measurement for an equivalent cross section measurement of sigma=200+90/−76 fb and a significance of 3.1.

Before any kind of new physics discovery could be made at the LHC, a precise understanding and measurement of the Standard Model of particle physics' processes was necessary. The book provides an introduction to top quark production in the context of the Standard Model and presents two such precise measurements of the production of top quark pairs in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV that were observed with the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. The presented measurements focus on events with one charged lepton, missing transverse energy and jets. Using novel and advanced analysis techniques as well as a good understanding of the detector, they constitute the most precise measurements of the quantity at that time.

Measurements of the cross sections for top quark pairs produced in association with a W or Z boson are presented, using 8 TeV pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb-1, collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. We found that final states are selected in which the associated W boson decays to a charged lepton and a neutrino or the Z boson decays to two charged leptons. Signal events are identified by matching reconstructed objects in the detector to specific final state particles from tt-W or tt-Z decays. The tt-W cross section is measured to be 382+117 -102 fb with a significance of 4.8 standard deviations from the background-only hypothesis. The tt-Z cross section is measured to be 242+65 -55 fb with a significance of 6.4 standard deviations from the background-only hypothesis. These measurements are used to set bounds on five anomalous dimension-six operators that would affect the tt-W and tt-Z cross sections.