SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 1605.08993

Search for top squark pair production in compressed-mass-spectrum scenarios in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV using the alpha[T] variable

Abstract

An inclusive search is performed for supersymmetry in final states containing jets and an apparent imbalance in transverse momentum, pt[miss], due to the production of unobserved weakly interacting particles in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data, recorded with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 18.5 inverse femtobarns. The dimensionless kinematic variable alpha[T] is used to discriminate between events with genuine pt[miss] associated with unobserved particles and spurious values of pt[miss] arising from jet energy mismeasurements. No excess of event yields above the expected standard model backgrounds is observed. The results are interpreted in terms of constraints on the parameter space of several simplified models of supersymmetry that assume the pair production of top squarks. The search provides sensitivity to a broad range of top squark decay modes, including the two-body decay top squark to c chi0, where c is a charm quark and chi0 is the lightest neutralino, as well as the four-body decay top squark to b f f' chi0, where b is a bottom quark and f and f' are fermions produced in the decay of an intermediate off-shell W boson. These modes dominate in scenarios in which the top squark and lightest neutralino are nearly degenerate in mass. For these modes, top squarks with masses as large as 260 and 230 GeV are excluded, respectively, for the two- and four-body decays.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

CMS Collaboration. 2017-02-27. Search for top squark pair production in compressed-mass-spectrum scenarios in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV using the alpha[T] variable. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2017.02.007

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Production of Light Nuclei and Hypernuclei in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We review recent STAR and ALICE measurements of light-nucleus and hypernucleus yields, femtoscopic correlations, and collective flow presented at SQM 2026. Statistical-hadronization calculations provide a useful baseline for integrated yields but do not simultaneously describe all measured light-nucleus ratios across collision energies and system sizes. For bound states with mass number $A<4$, current coalescence calculations provide a broadly consistent description of yields, femtoscopic correlations, and collective flow, although the quantitative hypertriton comparison depends on the assumed few-body wave function. The suppressed production of resonant $^{4}$Li relative to compact $^{4}$He indicates an effect of nuclear structure and late-stage dynamics. However, the quantitative model comparison also depends on the treatment of feed-down from unstable states. In high-multiplicity $p$+$p$ collisions, pion-deuteron femtoscopy further indicates that most observed (anti)deuterons are formed through nucleon fusion after strong decays of short-lived resonances. Taken together, these measurements show that production chronology and internal nuclear structure leave measurable imprints on the physics observables.

hep-ex

Search for the process $e^+e^-\to f_1(1285)$ at the SND detector

In the experiment with the SND detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider, a search is performed for the direct production of the $C$-even $f_1(1285)$ resonance in $e^+e^-$ collisions. The analysis is based on data with an integrated luminosity of about 200 pb$^{-1}$, accumulated in the center-of-mass energy range of 1.14--1.46 GeV, of which about 72 pb$^{-1}$ were recorded near the maximum of the $f_1(1285)$ resonance. The $f_1(1285)$ production cross section at the resonance maximum $\sigma(e^+e^-\to f_1)=(31\pm 13\pm 2)$ pb and the branching fraction $B(f_1(1285)\to e^+e^-)=(3.5\pm 1.4\pm 0.3)\times 10^{-9}$ have been measured. The significance of the observation of the $e^+e^-\to f_1(1285)$ process is $2.5\sigma$. Since the significance is low, we also present the upper limits at the 90% confidence level: $\sigma(e^+e^-\to f_1)<48\mbox{ pb}$ and $B(f_1(1285)\to e^+e^-)<5.4\times 10^{-9}$.

hep-ex

Projected Sensitivity to Slow Muonphilic Dark Matter with Accelerator Muon Beams

The nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the most enduring open questions in modern physics, and muonphilic DM has emerged as a promising scenario that complements traditional DM candidates. Following the recently established cosmic-ray muon scattering approach, we investigate the sensitivity for probing slow muonphilic DM with accelerator muon beams. A Geant4-based simulation framework is developed, incorporating the detector geometry from the PKMu muon tomography system and a dedicated elastic $\mu$-DM scattering process. The projected sensitivity is found to be largely insensitive to both the beam energy and the transverse beam size when the beam is fully contained within the detector acceptance. For a benchmark beam intensity of $10^5/\rm{s}$, the simulated pure-muon beam surpasses the existing cosmic-ray limit of $1.61\times10^{-17}$ cm$^2$ at $m_{\rm DM}=1$ GeV within approximately 11 seconds. A realistic muon beam phase-space distribution based on simulations for the High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) is also implemented, yielding projected limits that improve upon the cosmic-ray results by nearly two orders of magnitude in a one-day exposure. These results demonstrate that a beam-muon scattering experiment offers a robust and promising route toward significantly improved sensitivity to slow muonphilic DM.

hep-ex