arXiv subjects

Björn Herrmann

Publications and source records attributed to Björn Herrmann.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Interplay of gaugino (co)annihilation processes in the context of a precise relic density calculation

The latest Planck data allow one to determine the dark matter relic density with previously unparalleled precision. In order to achieve a comparable precision on the theory side, we have calculated the full $\mathcal{O}(α_s)$ corrections to the most relevant annihilation and coannihilation processes for relic density calculations within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The interplay of these processes is discussed. The impact of the radiative corrections on the resulting relic density is found to be larger than the experimental uncertainty of the Planck data.

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arXiv2015

Precise Prediction of the Dark Matter Relic Density within the MSSM

With the latest Planck results the dark matter relic density is determined to an unprecedented precision. In order to reduce current theoretical uncertainties in the dark matter relic density prediction, we have calculated next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections to neutralino (co)annihilation processes including Coulomb enhancement effects. We demonstrate that these corrections can have significant impact on the cosmologically favoured MSSM parameter space and are thus of general interest for parameter studies and global fits.

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arXiv2015

An MCMC study of general squark flavour mixing in the MSSM

We present an extensive study of non-minimally flavour violating (NMFV) terms in the Lagrangian of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We impose a variety of theoretical and experimental constraints and perform a detailed scan of the parameter space by means of a Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) setup. This represents the first study of several non-zero flavour-violating elements within the MSSM. We present the results of the MCMC scan with a special focus on the flavour-violating parameters. Based on these results, we define benchmark scenarios for future studies of NMFV effects at the LHC.

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arXiv2015

Relating LHC event rates to supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories containing $SU(5)$

We elaborate on a recently found $SU(5)$ relation confined to the up-(s)quark flavour space, that remains immune to large quantum corrections up to the TeV scale. We investigate the possibilities opened by this new window on the GUT scale in order to find TeV-scale $SU(5)$ tests realizable at the LHC. We present a variety of tests, which appear as relations among observables involving flavour violation or chirality flips and rely on the techniques of top polarimetry, charm-tagging, or Higgs detection from cascade decays. We discuss the cases of natural Supersymmetry and top-charm Supersymmetry as example cases. We find that $O(10)$ to $O(100)$ events are needed to obtain 50\% of relative precision at 3$σ$ significance for all proposed tests.

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arXiv2015

The electroweak sector of the NMSSM at the one-loop level

We present the electroweak spectrum for the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model at the one-loop level, e.g.\ the masses of Higgs bosons, sleptons, charginos and neutralinos. For the numerical evaluation we present a mSUGRA variant with non-universal Higgs mass parameters squared and we compare our results with existing ones in the literature. Moreover, we briefly discuss the implications of our results for the calculation of the relic density.

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arXiv2015

Tasting the SU(5) nature of supersymmetry at the LHC

We elaborate on a recently found SU(5) relation confined to the up-(s)quark flavour space, that remains immune to large quantum corrections up to the TeV scale. We investigate the possibilities opened by this new window on the GUT scale in order to find TeV-scale SU(5) tests realizable at the LHC. These SU(5) tests appear as relations among observables involving either flavour violation or chirality flip in the up-(s)quark sector. The power of these tests is systematically evaluated using a frequentist, p-value based criterion. SU(5) tests in the Heavy supersymmetry (SUSY), Natural supersymmetry and Top-charm supersymmetry spectra are investigated. The latter scenario features light stops and scharms and is well-motivated from various five-dimensional constructions. A variety of SU(5) tests is obtained, involving techniques of top polarimetry, charm-tagging, or Higgs detection from SUSY cascade decays. We find that O(10) to O(100) events are needed to obtain 50% of relative precision at 3-sigma significance for all of these tests. In addition, we propose a set of precision measurements in ultraperipheral collisions in order to search for the flavour-changing dipole operators of Heavy supersymmetry.

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arXiv2015

A new flavour imprint of SU(5)-like Grand Unification and its LHC signatures

We point out that the hypothesis of a SU(5)-like supersymmetric Grand Unified Theory (GUT) implies a generic relation within the flavour structure of up-type squarks. Contrary to other well-known SU(5) relations between the down-quark and charged lepton sectors, this relation remains exact in the presence of any corrections and extra operators. Moreover it remains valid to a good precision at the electroweak scale, and opens thus new possibilities for testing SU(5)-like GUTs. We derive the low-energy effective theory of observable light up-type squarks, that also constitutes a useful tool for squark phenomenology. We use this effective theory to determine how to test SU(5) relations at the LHC. Focussing on scenarios with light stops, compatible with Natural SUSY, it appears that simple tests involving ratios of event rates are sufficient to test the hypothesis of a SU(5)-like GUT theory. The techniques of charm-tagging and top-polarimetry are a crucial ingredient of these tests.

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arXiv2011

Phenomenology of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios with non-minimal flavour violation

In minimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking models, tachyonic sleptons are avoided by introducing a common scalar mass similar to the one introduced in minimal supergravity. This may lead to non-minimal flavour-violating interactions, e.g., in the squark sector. In this paper, we analyze the viable anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking parameter space in the light of the latest limits on low-energy observables and LHC searches, complete our analytical calculations of flavour-violating supersymmetric particle production at hadron colliders with those related to gluino production, and study the phenomenological consequences of non-minimal flavour violation in anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios at the LHC. Related cosmological aspects are also briefly discussed.

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arXiv2011

Impact of squark flavour violation on neutralino dark matter

We discuss the possibility of new sources of flavour violation in the squark sector of supersymmetric models in the context of the dark matter relic density. We show that the corresponding non-minimal flavour violation terms in the squark mass matrices can have an important impact on the thermally averaged (co)annihilation cross section of the neutralino, and in consequence can modify its predicted relic density. We discuss in detail the relevant effects and present a numerical study of neutralino annihilation and coannihilation in this context. We also comment on the LHC phenomenology of the corresponding scenarios.

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arXiv2010

Radiative corrections to neutralino annihilation: Recent developments

Evaluating the relic density of dark matter is an interesting possibility to constrain the parameter space of new physics models. However, this calculation is affected by several sources of uncertainty. On the particle physics side, considerable progress has been made in the recent years concerning the calculation of the annihilation cross-section of dark matter, which is needed in this context. In particular, within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, the theoretical uncertainty has been reduced through the calculation of loop corrections. The present contribution gives an overview over the achievements that have been made in QCD corrections to neutralino pair annihilation. The numerical impact is illustrated for a few examples.

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arXiv2010

Signatures of bosonic squark decays in non-minimally flavour-violating supersymmetry

We investigate couplings of squarks to gauge and Higgs-bosons within the framework of non-minimal flavour violation in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Introducing non-diagonal elements in the mass matrices of squarks, we first study their impact on the self-energies and physical mass eigenvalues of squarks. We then present an extensive analysis of bosonic squark decays for variations of the flavour-violating parameters around the two benchmark scenarios SPS1a' and SPS1b. Signatures, that would be characteristic for a non-minimal flavour structure in the squark sector, can be found in wide regions of the parameter space.

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arXiv2009

Neutralino Annihilation into Massive Quarks with SUSY-QCD Corrections

We compute the full O(alpha_s) supersymmetric (SUSY) QCD corrections for neutralino annihilation into massive quarks through gauge or Higgs bosons and squarks in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), including the known resummation of logarithmically enhanced terms. The numerical impact of the corrections on the extraction of SUSY mass parameters from cosmological data is analyzed for gravity-mediated SUSY breaking scenarios and shown to be sizable, so that these corrections must be included in common analysis tools.

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arXiv2008

Neutralino annihilation to quarks with SUSY-QCD corrections

The calculation of the cosmological relic density of the dark matter candidate within supersymmetric models is an interesting possibility to obtain additional constraints on the supersymmetric parameter space with respect to collider, electroweak precision, and low-energy data. Considering future cosmological precision measurements, radiative corrections can play an important role in the analysis. We present full QCD and SUSY-QCD corrections to neutralino pair annihilation into quark-antiquark pairs and analyze their impact on the neutralino annihilation cross section and the relic density. By comparing to the relic density obtained from a pure leading order calculation, we show that the corrections strongly influence the extraction of SUSY mass parameters from cosmological data.

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arXiv2008

Flavour Violation in GMSB Scenarios: Constraints and Phenomenology

We present an extensive analysis of low-energy, electroweak precision, and cosmological constraints in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking (GMSB) and including the possibility of Non-Minimal Flavour Violation (NMFV). Using detailed scans over the parameter space, we show how NMFV allows to relax the stringent constraints excluding large parts of the minimal GMSB. We define benchmark scenarios and present numerical predictions for various sparticle production cross sections at the LHC.

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arXiv2007

Squark and gaugino hadroproduction and decays in non-minimal flavour violating supersymmetry

We implement non-minimal flavour violation (NMFV) in the MSSM at low scale. In this framework, we propose benchmark points for the mSUGRA scenario including non-minimal flavour violation by evaluating a number of experimental low-energy, electroweak precision and cosmological constraints. We finally discuss phenomenological aspects of our NMFV scenario and present a numerical analysis of squark and gaugino production cross sections at the LHC.

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arXiv2007

Effect of SUSY-QCD corrections to neutralino annihilation on the cold dark matter relic density in the Higgs funnel

We present a complete calculation of the QCD and SUSY-QCD corrections to neutralino pair annihilation into bottom quark-antiquark pairs through exchange of a pseudoscalar Higgs boson, which is the dominant process in the cosmological A-funnel region of the mSUGRA model. We present numerical predictions for the annihilation cross section and discuss the influence of the correction terms on the cold dark matter relic density with respect to recent cosmological data.

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