arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Avital Dery.
We embed Two Higgs Doublet Models (2HDMs) in the Froggatt Nielsen (FN) framework. We find that the approximate FN symmetry predicts i) approximate Natural Flavor Conservation (NFC) of Types II or IV in the Yukawa sector, and ii) approximate Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry in the scalar sector. We discuss the phenomenological consequences of these features.
The ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC have reported an excess of diphoton events with invariant mass around 750 GeV, with local significance of about $3.6 σ$ and $2.6 σ$, respectively. We entertain the possibility that this excess is due to new physics, in which case the data suggest a new particle with 13 TeV LHC production cross section times diphoton branching ratio of about 5~fb. Interestingly, ATLAS reports a mild preference for a sizeable width for the signal of about 45 GeV; this result appears consistent with CMS, and is further supported by improving the compatibility of the 8 TeV and 13 TeV analyses. We focus on the possibility that the new state is a scalar. First, we show that, in addition to the new state that is needed directly to produce the diphoton bump, yet more new particles beyond the Standard Model are needed to induce diphoton decay rate of the right size. Second, we note that if the excess is attributed to the Breit-Wigner peak of a single new state, then the signal strength and width -- taken together -- suggest a total LHC production cross section of order $10^5$ fb. Restricting to perturbative models without ad-hoc introduction of many new states or exotic charges, we reach the following conclusions: (i) Gluon-fusion cannot explain the required large production cross section. (ii) Tree level production from initial state quarks cannot explain the required branching ratio to two photons. (iii) Tree level production is constrained by flavor data as well as LHC Run-I and Tevatron dijet analyses. Insisting on a large width we are led to suggest that more than one scalar states, nearly degenerate in mass, could conspire to produce an observed wide bump.
If $t\rightarrow hq$ ($q=c,u$) or $h\rightarrowτ\ell$ ($\ell=μ,e$) decays are observed, it will be a clear signal of new physics. We investigate whether natural and viable flavor models can saturate the present direct upper bounds without violating the indirect constraints from low energy loop processes. We carry out our analysis in two theoretical frameworks: minimal flavor violation (MFV) and Froggatt-Nielsen symmetry (FN). The simplest models in either framework predict flavor changing couplings that are too small to be directly observed. Yet, in the MFV framework, it is possible to have lepton flavor changing Higgs couplings close to the bound if spurions related to heavy singlet neutrinos play a role. In the FN framework, it is possible to have large flavor changing couplings in both the up and the charged lepton sectors if supersymmetry plays a role.
We introduce a new method to search for the lepton-flavor violating Higgs decays $h\rightarrowτμ$ and $h\rightarrowτe$ in the leptonic $τ$ decay channel. In particular, the Standard Model background is estimated in a fully data driven way. The method exploits the asymmetry between electrons and muons in the final state of signal events and is sensitive to differences in the rates of the two decays. Using this method, we investigate the LHC sensitivity to these processes. With 20 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ of data at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV, we expect a $3σ$ sensitivity for observing branching ratios of order $0.9\%$. The method and the suggested statistical treatment are discussed in detail.
Measurements of the Yukawa couplings of the recently discovered boson h to fermion pairs will provide a new arena for studying flavor physics. We analyze the lessons that can be learned by measuring the h decay rates into the charged lepton pairs, ττ, μμ, and τμ. We demonstrate how this set of measurements can distinguish in principle between various classes of flavor models such as natural flavor conservation, minimal flavor violation, and Froggatt-Nielsen symmetry.
We clarify several subtleties concerning the implementation of minimal flavor violation (MFV) in two Higgs doublet models. We derive all the exact and approximate predictions of MFV for the neutral scalar (h,H,A) Yukawa couplings to fermions. We point out several possible tests of this framework at the LHC.