  Heavy partners of the top quark are a common prediction of many models in
which a new strongly-coupled sector is responsible for the breaking of the EW
symmetry. In this paper we investigate their experimental signature at the LHC,
focusing on the particularly clean channel of same-sign dileptons.
  We show that, thank to a strong interaction with the top quark which allows
them to be singly produced at a sizable rate, the top partners will be
discovered at the LHC if their mass is below 1.5 TeV, higher masses being
possible in particularly favorable (but plausible) situations. Being the
partners expected to be lighter in both the Higgsless and Composite-Higgs
scenarios, the one of same-sign dileptons is found to be a very promising
channel in which these models could be tested.
  We also discuss several experimental signatures which would allow, after the
discovery of the excess, to uniquely attribute it to the top partners
production and to measure the relevant physical parameters, i.e. the top
partners masses and couplings. We believe that our results constitute a valid
starting point for a more detailed experimental study.
