A study on the detection of a light stop squark with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC

The search for light supersymmetric partners of the top quark (stop squark) could result into the early discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC. We present here a detailed analysis based on a parametrized simulation of the ATLAS detector. We study a benchmark model in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, with a stop squark lighter than the top quark, yielding a final state similar to the one for $t\bar{t}$ production. It is demonstrated that a signal for the stop squark can be extracted in this case, and the kinematic features of the stop decay studied. A technique to subtract the SM background based on the data is developed to achieve this result.