of X$_{Q}$ , and θ$_{d}$ and θ$_{c}$ − θ$_{d}$ parametrize the suppression that comes from alignment with, respectively, the down and the up sector. The main point is the following: Alignment can entirely suppress the contribution to either K $^{0}$– K 0 mixing ( θ$_{d}$ = 0) or D $^{0}$– D 0 mixing ( θ$_{d}$ = θ$_{c}$ ) but not to both. Thus, the flavor measurements give a constraint on Λ$_{12}$ which reads [16] If we switch on the CP violating phase γ in V$_{d}$ then, for 0 . 03 ∼ < | sin γ | ∼ < 0 . 98, we find [16] We learn that, with a loop suppression of order λ$_{12}$ ∼ α$_{2}$ , the degeneracy should be stronger than 0 . 02. Λ$_{12}$ ≤ 4 . 8 × 10 − 4 √$_{sin 2}$$_{γ}$ ( Λ$_{NP}$ 1 TeV ) . (3.11) Λ$_{12}$ ≤ 3 . 8 × 10 − 3 ( Λ$_{NP}$ 1 TeV ) . (3.10) While the present direct determination of top-quark decay rates is at the O (1%) level of accu- racy [17], orders of magnitude improvement is expected at the LHC. With 100 fb − 1 of data, the LHC will be sensitive (at 95% CL) to branching ratios of O ( 10 − 5 ) in the t → u $^{i}$Z/γ channels [18], where u i = u, c . Within the SM, these channels have branching ratios in the 10 − 13 range, so any experimental observation would be a clear sign of physics beyond the SM. The LHC sensitivity to additional Δ t = 1 processes, such as t → c G, φ , is more limited (see e.g. Ref. [19] and references therein). The impact of the projected LHC bounds on top flavor violation can be described in a model independent manner. The leading contributions to the above processes are mediated via a set of dimension-six operators [20], which can be classified according to the SM global flavor sym- metries [21]. Focusing on the chirality of the quark fields, these can be written as O A t $_{B}$, where A $^{t}$, B = L, R and A t denotes top-quark chirality. Bounds from B physics can give severe constraints on the operators with B = L [21]. The situation changes, however, in case of a flavor alignment of these effective operators, such that they are diagonal in the down-type mass basis. In this limit no bounds can be derived on the O LR and O RL operators [22]. On the other hand, the O LL operators cannot be aligned simultaneously with the down- and up-quark mass bases. As a result, combining bounds on t → u i with bounds from b → sl $^{+}$l − we can get stringent constraints on the operator O h LL = ¯ Q$_{i}$γ $^{µ}$( X$_{Q}$ )$_{ij}$ Q$_{j}$ ( φ † ← → D$_{µ}$φ ) / Λ 2 $_{t}$. Normalising the SU (3)$_{Q}$ adjoint spurion, X$_{Q}$ = a$_{i}$T$_{i}$ , such 11 C. Top Physics