t t ¯ b b ¯ $$ t\overline{t}b\overline{b} $$ at NLO precision in a variable flavor number scheme

Abstract Top-quark pair production in association with two b-jets is computed at next-to-leading order QCD precision, including effects of the b-quark mass, and matched to a t t ¯ $$ t\overline{t} $$ +jets simulation in a variable flavor number scheme. The Monte Carlo realization of this method, called fusing, consistently embeds the four-flavor calculation in a particle-level event generator. As a first phenomenological application, we present observables relevant to the data-driven estimation of irreducible backgrounds to t t ¯ H $$ t\overline{t}H $$ -production.