Running of the top quark mass at NNLO in QCD

A bstract The running of the top quark mass ( m t ) is probed at the next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics for the first time. The result is obtained by comparing calculations in the modified minimal subtraction ( $$\overline{{\text{MS}} }$$ ) renormalisation scheme to the CMS result on differential measurement of the top quark-antiquark ( $${\text{t}}\overline{{\text{t}} }$$ ) production cross section at $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV. The scale dependence of m t is extracted as a function of the invariant mass of the $${\text{t}}\overline{{\text{t}} }$$ system, up to an energy scale of about 0.5 TeV. The observed running is found to be in good agreement with the three-loop solution of the renormalisation group equations on quantum chromodynamics.