arXiv subjects

Gautam Bhattacharyya

Publications and source records attributed to Gautam Bhattacharyya.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Searching for exotic Higgs bosons from top quark decays at the HL-LHC

Exotic spin-$0$ states with unusual couplings with the gauge and matter fields of the Standard Model are worth exploring at the CERN LHC. Though our approach is largely model independent, we take inspiration from flavor models based on some discrete symmetries which predict a set of a scalar and a pseudoscalar having purely off-diagonal Yukawa interactions with quarks and leptons. In a previous paper, some of us explored how to decipher such exotic scalar and pseudoscalar states whose off-diagonal Yukawa couplings involve light quarks. In this work we follow a complementary path and focus on the Yukawa couplings that necessarily involve a top quark. If one such spin-$0$ state is lighter than the top quark, then the rare decay of the latter, on account of the high yield of the $t\bar t$ events, could provide a potential hunting ground of those exotic states particularly during the high luminosity phase of the LHC run. We carry out an exhaustive collider analysis of some promising signatures of those exotic states using sophisticated Machine Learning techniques and obtain considerable signal significance.

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arXiv2022

Searching exotic Higgs bosons at the LHC

We analyse in a model independent way the possibilities of digging out neutral exotic Higgs states, should they exist endowed with unconventional couplings with ordinary matter and gauge fields, at the 14 TeV run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), adding some comparative studies for 13.6 and 13 TeV runs. Flavor models, based on some discrete symmetry groups, with extended scalar sectors are known to yield exotic spin-0 states, both CP-even and CP-odd, with purely flavor off-diagonal Yukawa couplings. The gauge interaction of one such CP-even state is also unusual that, unlike the Standard Model Higgs boson, it does not couple to gauge boson pairs. Such unconventional properties immune these exotic states from receiving traditional collider and electroweak constraints, and hence those states could be light. Without committing to any specific model, exploiting their peculiar Yukawa and gauge properties, we explore the discovery potential of those exotic Higgs states through some interesting topologies by figuring out some specific kinematic variables that suppress the backgrounds.

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arXiv2020

Probing the Higgs boson through Yukawa force

The ATLAS and CMS collaborations of the LHC have observed that the Higgs boson decays into the bottom quark-antiquark pair, and have also established that the Higgs coupling with the top quark-antiquark pair is instrumental in one of the modes for Higgs production. This underlines the discovery of the Yukawa force at the LHC. We demonstrate the impact of this discovery on the Higgs properties that are related to the dynamics of electroweak symmetry breaking. We show that these measurements have considerably squeezed the allowed window for new physics contributing to the Higgs couplings with the weak gauge bosons and the third generation quarks. The expected constraints at the HL-LHC and future Higgs factories are also shown. We project these constraints on the parameter space of a few motivated scenarios beyond the Standard Model. We pick them under two broad categories, namely, the composite Higgs and its RS dual, as well as various types of multi-Higgs models. The latter category includes models with singlet scalars, Type I, II and BGL-type two-Higgs doublet models, and models with scalar triplets a la Georgi and Machacek.

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arXiv2020

SO(10) unification with horizontal symmetry

We extend the nonsupersymmetric SO(10) grand unification theories by adding a horizontal symmetry, which connects the three generations of fermions. Without committing to any specific symmetry group, we investigate the 1-loop renormalization group evolutions of the gauge couplings with one and two intermediate breaking scales. We find that depending on the SO(10) breaking chains, gauge coupling unification is compatible with only a handful of choices of representations of the Higgs bosons under the horizontal symmetry.

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arXiv2019

Dark matter seeping through dynamic gauge kinetic mixing

We show for the first time that the loop-driven kinetic mixing between visible and dark Abelian gauge bosons can facilitate dark matter production in the early Universe by creating a 'dynamic' portal, which depends on the energy of the process. The required smallness of the strength of the portal interaction, suited for freeze-in, is justified by a suppression arising from the mass of a heavy vector-like fermion. The strong temperature sensitivity associated with the interaction is responsible for most of the dark matter production during the early stages of reheating.

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arXiv2019

Impact of Yukawa-like dimension-5 operators on the Georgi-Machacek model

We study the effects of including Yukawa-like dimension-5 operators in the Georgi-Machacek model where the Standard Model is augmented with triplet scalars. We focus only on the charged Higgs sector and investigate the constraints arising from radiative B-meson decays, neutral B-meson mixing and precision measurement of Zbb vertex. We observe that the inclusion of the dimension-5 operators causes substantial alteration of the limits on the charged Higgs masses and the vacuum expectation value of the triplets, derived otherwise using only the dimension-4 operators.

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arXiv2018

Freezing-in dark matter through a heavy invisible $Z'$

We demonstrate that in a class of the $U(1)'$ extension of the Standard Model (SM), under which all the Standard Model matter fields are uncharged and the additional neutral gauge boson $Z'$ couples to a set of heavy nonstandard fermions, dark matter (DM) production mediated by $Z'$ can proceed through the generation of generalized Chern-Simons (GCS) couplings. The origin of the GCS terms is intimately connected to the cancellation of gauge anomalies. We show that the DM production cross section triggered by GCS couplings is sufficient even for an intermediate scale $Z'$ . A large range of DM and Z masses is then allowed for reasonably high reheating temperature ($T_\rh \gtrsim 10^{10}~\text{GeV}$). This type of scenario opens up a new paradigm for unified models. We also study the UV completion of such effective field theory constructions, augmenting it by a heavy fermionic spectrum. The latter, when integrated out, generates the GCS-like terms and provides a new portal to the dark sector. The presence of a number of derivative couplings in the GCS-like operators induces a high temperature dependence to the DM production rate. The mechanism has novel consequences and leads to a new reheating dependence of the relic abundance.

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arXiv2018

A reappraisal of constraints on $Z'$ models from unitarity and direct searches at the LHC

In a truly model-independent approach, we reexamine a minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) through the introduction of an additional $U(1)$ symmetry leading to a new neutral gauge boson ($Z'$), allowing its kinetic mixing with the hypercharge gauge boson. An SM neutral scalar is used to spontaneously break this extra symmetry leading to the mass of the $Z'$. Except for three right-handed neutrinos no other fermions are added. We use the current LHC Drell-Yan data to put model-independent constraints in the parameter space of three quantities, namely, $M_{Z'}$, the $Z$-$Z'$ mixing angle ($α_z$) and the extra $U(1)$ effective gauge coupling ($g'_x$), which absorb all model dependence. We impose additional constraints from unitarity and low energy neutrino-electron scattering. However, limits extracted from direct searches turn out to be most stringent. We obtain $M_{Z'} > 4.4$ TeV and $|α_z| < 0.001$ at $95\%$ C.L., when the strength of the additional $U(1)$ gauge coupling is the same as that of the SM $SU(2)_L$.

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arXiv2018

An extended gauge mediation for muon $(g-2)$ explanation

It is increasingly becoming difficult, within a broad class of supersymmetric models, to satisfactorily explain the discrepancy between the measured $(g-2)_μ$ and its standard model prediction, and at the same time satisfy all the other constraints. In this paper we propose a new scheme of gauge mediation by introducing new soft supersymmetry breaking mass parameters for the Higgs sector in a minimal setup containing only a pair of $({\bf 5} + \bar{\bf 5})$ messenger fields of SU(5). This enables us to explain the $(g-2)_μ$ discrepancy while avoiding all the existing constraints. We also provide possible dynamical origin of the new soft mass parameters. The wino and higgsino weighing below 500 GeV constitute the smoking gun signal at the (high luminosity) LHC.

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arXiv2018

Can measurements of 2HDM parameters provide hints for high scale supersymmetry?

Two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs) are minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) that may still be discovered at the LHC. The quartic couplings of their potentials can be determined from the measurement of the masses and branching ratios of their extended scalar sectors. We show that the evolution of these couplings through renormalization group equations can determine whether the observed 2HDM is a low energy manifestation of a more fundamental theory, as for instance, supersymmetry, which fixes the quartic couplings in terms of the gauge couplings. At leading order, the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM (MSSM) dictates all the quartic couplings, which can be translated into a predictive structure for the scalar masses and mixings at the weak scale. Running these couplings to higher scales, one can check if they converge to their MSSM values, and more interestingly, whether one can infer the supersymmetry breaking scale. Although we study this question in the context of supersymmetry, this strategy could be applied to any theory whose ultraviolet completion unambiguously predicts all scalar quartic couplings.

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arXiv2018

Constraining Composite Higgs Models using LHC data

We systematically study the modifications in the couplings of the Higgs boson, when identified as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of a strong sector, in the light of LHC Run 1 and Run 2 data. For the minimal coset SO(5)/SO(4) of the strong sector, we focus on scenarios where the standard model left- and right-handed fermions (specifically, the top and bottom quarks) are either in 5 or in the symmetric 14 representation of SO(5). Going beyond the minimal 5L-5R representation, to what we call here the 'extended' models, we observe that it is possible to construct more than one invariant in the Yukawa sector. In such models, the Yukawa couplings of the 125 GeV Higgs boson undergo nontrivial modifications. The pattern of such modifications can be encoded in a generic phenomenological Lagrangian which applies to a wide class of such models. We show that the presence of more than one Yukawa invariant allows the gauge and Yukawa coupling modifiers to be decorrelated in the 'extended' models, and this decorrelation leads to a relaxation of the bound on the compositeness scale (f > 640 GeV at 95% CL, as compared to f > 1 TeV for the minimal 5L-5R representation model). We also study the Yukawa coupling modifications in the context of the next-to-minimal strong sector coset SO(6)/SO(5) for fermion-embedding up to representations of dimension 20. While quantifying our observations, we have performed a detailed chi-square fit using the ATLAS and CMS combined Run 1 and available Run 2 data.

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arXiv2017

Improving Fine-tuning in Composite Higgs Models

In this paper we investigate the next-to-minimal composite Higgs model with a SO(6)/SO(5) coset, whose pNGB sector includes a Standard Model singlet in addition to the usual Higgs doublet. The fermions are embedded in the representation 6 of SO(6). We study the region of parameter space of the model where the radiatively generated potential has global minima with both the doublet and the singlet fields developing vacuum expectation values. We investigate the consequences of kinetic and mass mixing between the Higgs and the singlet scalar that arise in this framework. We demonstrate that the ensuing doublet-singlet mixing can provide a handle to accommodate heavier resonances (top-partners) for a given compositeness scale as compared to the minimal composite Higgs model, thus relaxing the tension with the direct LHC bounds. The main phenomenological consequence of this is a sizable deviation of the Higgs couplings from the Standard Model predictions. While the present experimental precision in the measurement of the Higgs couplings still allows for considerable release of this tension, future measurements of the Higgs branching ratios with increased precision would lead to stringent constraints on this setup.

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arXiv2016

A Detailed Analysis of Flavour-changing Decays of Top Quarks as a Probe of New Physics at the LHC

If the LHC should fail to observe direct signals for new physics, it may become necessary to look for new physics effects in rare events such as flavour-changing decays of the top quark, which, in the Standard Model, are predicted to be too small to be observed. We set up the theoretical framework in which experimentally accessible results can be expected in models of new physics, and go on to discuss two models of supersymmetry -- one with conserved $R$-parity, and one without $R$-parity -- to illustrate how the flavour-changing signals are predicted in these models. In the latter case, there is a distinct possibility of detecting the rare decay $t \to c + Z^0$ at the LHC. We also present a detailed set of very general formulae which can be used to make similar calculations in diverse models of new physics.

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arXiv2015

Scalar sector of Two-Higgs-Doublet models: A mini-review

A vast literature on the theory and phenomenology of Two-Higgs-Doublet models (2HDM) exists since long. However, the present situation demands a revisit of some 2HDM properties. Now that a 125 GeV scalar resonance has been discovered at the LHC, with its couplings to other particles showing increasing affinity to the Standard Model Higgs-like behavior, the 2HDM parameter space is more squeezed than ever. We briefly review the different parametrizations of the 2HDM potential and discuss the constraints on the parameter space arising from the unitarity and stability of the potential together with constraints from the oblique electroweak $T$-parameter. We also differentiate the consequences of imposing a global continuous U(1) symmetry on the potential from a discrete $Z_2$ symmetry.

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arXiv2015

Focus Point Gauge Mediation with Incomplete Adjoint Messengers and Gauge Coupling Unification

As the mass limits on supersymmetric particles are gradually pushed to higher values due to their continuing non-observation at the CERN LHC, looking for focus point regions in the supersymmetric parameter space, which shows considerably reduced fine-tuning, is increasingly more important than ever. We explore this in the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking with messengers transforming in the adjoint representation of the gauge group, namely, octet of color SU(3) and triplet of weak SU(2). A distinctive feature of this scenario is that the focus point is achieved by fixing a single combination of parameters in the messenger sector, which is invariant under the renormalization group evolution. Because of this invariance, the focus point behavior is well under control once the relevant parameters are fixed by a more fundamental theory. The observed Higgs boson mass is explained with a relatively mild fine-tuning $Δ=$ 60-150. Interestingly, even in the presence of incomplete messenger multiplets of the SU(5) GUT group, the gauge couplings still unify perfectly, but at a scale which is one or two orders of magnitude above the conventional GUT scale. Because of this larger unification scale, the colored Higgs multiplets become too heavy to trigger proton decay at a rate larger than the experimentally allowed limit.

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arXiv2014

Nondecoupling of charged scalars in Higgs decay to two photons and symmetries of the scalar potential

A large class of two- and three-Higgs-doublet models with discrete symmetries has been employed in the literature to address various aspects of flavor physics. We analyse how the precision measurement of the Higgs to diphoton signal strength would severely constrain these scenarios due to the nondecoupling behavior of the charged scalars, to the extent that the number of additional scalar doublets can be constrained no matter how heavy the nonstandard scalars are. We demonstrate that if the scalar potential is endowed with appropriate global continuous symmetries together with soft breaking parameters, decoupling can be achieved thanks to the unitarity constraints on the mass-square differences of the heavy scalars.

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arXiv2014

Feasibility of light scalars in a class of two-Higgs-doublet models and their decay signatures

We demonstrate that light charged and extra neutral scalars in the (100-200) GeV mass range pass the potentially dangerous flavor constraints in a particular class of two-Higgs-doublet model which has appropriately suppressed flavor-changing neutral currents at tree level. We study their decay branching ratios into various fermionic final states and comment on the possibility of their detection in the collider experiments. We also remark on how their trademark decay signatures can be used to discriminate them from the light nonstandard scalars predicted in other two-Higgs-doublet models.

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arXiv2014

Minimal supersymmetry confronts $R_b$, $A^b_{FB}$ and $m_h$

We study the impact of the measurements of three sets of observables on the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (cMSSM), its slightly general variant, the non-universal scalar model (NUSM), and some selected benchmark points of the 19-parameter phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM): ($i$) the direct measurement of the Higgs boson mass $m_h \approx 125$ GeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC); ($ii$) $Z$ boson decay width in the $b \bar{b}$ channel normalized to its hadronic width ($R_b$), and the forward-backward asymmetry on the $Z$-peak in the same channel $(A_{\rm FB}^b)$; and ($iii$) several $B$-physics observables, along with $(g-2)$ of muon. In addition, there are constraints from non-observation of superparticles from direct searches at the LHC. In view of the recently re-estimated standard model (SM) value of $R_b$ with improved higher order corrections, the measured value of $R_b$ has a 1.2$σ$ discrepancy with its SM value, while the corresponding discrepancy in $A_{\rm FB}^b$ is 2.5$σ$. MSSM contributions from light superpartners improve the agreement of $R_b$ but worsen that of $A_{\rm FB}^b$. We project this ($R_b$-$A_{\rm FB}^b$) tension {\em vis-à-vis} the constraints arising from other observables in the parameter space of cMSSM and NUSM. We also consider a few well-motivated pMSSM benchmark points and show that pMSSM does not fare any better than the SM.

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