Using the W as a Standard Candle to Reach the Top: Calibrating Energy Correlator Based Top Mass Measurements

The top quark mass is a key parameter of the standard model, yet measuring it precisely at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is challenging. Inspired by the use of standard candles in cosmology, we propose a novel energy correlator-based observable, which directly accesses the dimensionless quantity mt/mW. We perform a Monte Carlo study to demonstrate the feasibility of the top mass extraction from Run 2, 3, and High-Luminosity LHC datasets. Our resulting m_t can be defined in a well-controlled short-distance mass scheme and exhibits remarkably small uncertainties from nonperturbative effects, as well as insensitivity to parton distribution functions, outlining a roadmap for a record precision measurement at the LHC.