We explore the possibility that the right-handed top quark is composite. We examine the consequences that compositeness would have on $t bar{t}$ production at the Tevatron, and derive a weak constraint on the scale of compositeness of order a few hun
dred GeV from the $t bar{t}$ inclusive cross section. More detailed studies of differential properties of $t bar{t}$ production could potentially improve this limit. We find that a composite top can result in an enhancement of the $t bar{t} t bar{t}$ production rate at the LHC (of as much as $10^3$ compared to the Standatd Model four top rate). We explore observables which allow us to extract the four top rate from the backgrounds, and show that the LHC can either discover or constrain top compositeness for wide ranges of parameter space.
We study the properties of $g^{1}$, the first excited state of the gluon in representative variants of the Randall Sundrum model with the Standard Model fields in the bulk. We find that measurements of the coupling to light quarks (from the inclusive
cross-section for $ppto g^{1} to tbar t$), the coupling to bottom quarks (from the rate of $ppto g^{1} b$), as well as the overall width, can provide powerful discriminants between the models. In models with large brane kinetic terms, the $g^1$ resonance can even potentially be discovered decaying into dijets against the large QCD background. We also derive bounds based on existing Tevatron searches for resonant $t bar{t}$ production and find that they require $M_{g^{1}} gtrsim 950$ GeV. In addition we explore the pattern of interference between the $g^1$ signal and the non-resonant SM background, defining an asymmetry parameter for the invariant mass distribution. The interference probes the relative signs of the couplings of the $g^{1}$ to light quark pairs and to $tbar t$, and thus provides an indication that the top is localized on the other side of the extra dimension from the light quarks, as is typical in the RS framework.
