arXiv subjects

Heather E. Logan

Publications and source records attributed to Heather E. Logan.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

The International Linear Collider Technical Design Report - Volume 2: Physics

The International Linear Collider Technical Design Report (TDR) describes in four volumes the physics case and the design of a 500 GeV centre-of-mass energy linear electron-positron collider based on superconducting radio-frequency technology using Niobium cavities as the accelerating structures. The accelerator can be extended to 1 TeV and also run as a Higgs factory at around 250 GeV and on the Z0 pole. A comprehensive value estimate of the accelerator is give, together with associated uncertainties. It is shown that no significant technical issues remain to be solved. Once a site is selected and the necessary site-dependent engineering is carried out, construction can begin immediately. The TDR also gives baseline documentation for two high-performance detectors that can share the ILC luminosity by being moved into and out of the beam line in a "push-pull" configuration. These detectors, ILD and SiD, are described in detail. They form the basis for a world-class experimental programme that promises to increase significantly our understanding of the fundamental processes that govern the evolution of the Universe.

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arXiv2013

High-energy suppression of the Higgsstrahlung cross-section in the Minimal Composite Higgs Model

If the Higgs boson is composite, signs of this compositeness should appear via a formfactor-like suppression of Higgs scattering cross sections at momentum transfers above the compositeness scale. We explore this by computing the cross section for e+e- ---> ZH (Higgsstrahlung) in a warped five-dimensional gauge-Higgs unification model known as the Minimal Composite Higgs Model (MCHM). We observe that the Higgsstrahlung cross section in the MCHM is strongly suppressed compared to that in the Standard Model at center-of-mass energies above the scale of the first Kaluza-Klein excitations, due to cancellations among the contributions of successive Z boson Kaluza-Klein modes. We also show that the magnitude and sign of the coupling of the first Kaluza-Klein mode can be measured at a future electron-positron collider such as the proposed International Linear Collider or Compact Linear Collider.

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arXiv2012

Discovering Strong Top Dynamics at the LHC

We analyze the phenomenology of the top-pion and top-Higgs states in models with strong top dynamics, and translate the present LHC searches for the Standard Model Higgs into bounds on these scalar states. We explore the possibility that the new state at a mass of approximately 125 GeV observed at the LHC is consistent with a neutral pseudoscalar top-pion state. We demonstrate that a neutral pseudoscalar top-pion can generate the diphoton signal at the observed rate. However, the region of model parameter space where this is the case does not correspond to classic topcolor-assisted technicolor scenarios with degenerate charged and neutral top-pions and a top-Higgs mass of order twice the top mass; rather, additional isospin violation would need to be present and the top dynamics would be more akin to that in top seesaw models. Moreover, the interpretation of the new state as a top-pion can be sustained only if the ZZ (four-lepton) and WW (two-lepton plus missing energy) signatures initially observed at the 3? level decline in significance as additional data is accrued.

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arXiv2012

Can the 126 GeV boson be a pseudoscalar?

We test the possibility that the newly-discovered 126 GeV boson is a pseudoscalar by examining the correlations among the loop-induced pseudoscalar decay branching fractions to $γγ$, $ZZ^*$, $Zγ$, and $WW^*$ final states in a model-independent way. These four decays are controlled by only two effective operators, so that the rates in $Zγ$ and $WW^*$ are predicted now that the rates in $γγ$ and $ZZ^*,Zγ^* \to 4 \ell$ have been measured. We find that the pseudoscalar possibility is disfavored but not conclusively excluded. Experimental exclusion of the $Zγ$ decay to well below $σ/σ_{\rm SM} \sim 170$ or conclusive observation of the $WW^*$ decay near the Standard Model rate would eliminate the pseudoscalar possibility. The $Zγ$ exclusion should be possible using existing data. The only loophole in our argument is the possibility that the $4\ell$ signal comes from pseudoscalar decays to a pair of new neutral gauge bosons with mass near the $Z$ pole.

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arXiv2012

Constraints on large scalar multiplets from perturbative unitarity

We determine the constraints on the isospin and hypercharge of a scalar electroweak multiplet from partial-wave unitarity of tree-level scattering diagrams. The constraint from SU(2)_L interactions yields T <= 7/2 (i.e., n <= 8) for a complex scalar multiplet and T <= 4 (i.e., n <= 9) for a real scalar multiplet, where n = 2T+1 is the number of isospin states in the multiplet.

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arXiv2011

Topcolor in the LHC Era

Ongoing LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in WW or ZZ decay modes strongly constrain the top-Higgs state predicted in many models with new dynamics that preferentially affects top quarks. Such a state couples strongly to top-quarks, and is therefore produced through gluon fusion at a rate that can be greatly enhanced relative to the rate for the standard model Higgs boson. As we discuss in this talk, a top-Higgs state with mass less than 300 GeV is excluded at 95% CL if the associated top-pion has a mass of 150 GeV, and the constraint is even stronger if the mass of the top-pion state exceeds the top-quark mass or if the top-pion decay constant is a substantial fraction of the weak scale. These results have significant implications for theories with strong top dynamics, such as topcolor-assisted technicolor, top-seesaw models, and certain Higgsless models.

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arXiv2011

Dilaton constraints and LHC prospects

The Standard Model Higgs searches using the first 1-2 fb-1 of LHC data can be used to put interesting constraints on new scalar particles other than the Higgs. We investigate one such scenario in which electroweak symmetry is broken via strongly coupled conformal dynamics. This scenario contains a neutral scalar dilaton---the Goldstone boson associated with spontaneously broken scale invariance---with a mass below the conformal symmetry breaking scale and couplings to Standard Model particles similar (but not identical) to those of the Standard Model Higgs boson. We translate the LEP and LHC Higgs limits to constrain the dilaton mass and conformal breaking scale. The conformal breaking scale f is constrained to be above 1 TeV for dilaton masses between 145 and 600 GeV, though it can be as low as 400 GeV for dilaton masses below 110 GeV. We also show that (i) a dilaton chi with mass below 110 GeV and consistent with the LEP constraints can appear in gg --> chi --> gamma gamma with a rate up to ~10 times the corresponding Standard Model Higgs rate, and (ii) a dilaton with mass of several hundred GeV is much narrower than the corresponding Standard Model Higgs, leading to improved search sensitivity in chi --> ZZ --> 4l.

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arXiv2011

LHC Phenomenology

The analyses of the first 1-2/fb of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data are already having significant impacts on a wide range of models. In this talk I give my perspective on why we expect to find new physics at the LHC, and how such a discovery might unfold.

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arXiv2011

Higgs phenomenology beyond the Standard Model

Detection of a signal in one of the standard LHC Higgs search channels does not guarantee that the particle discovered is the Standard Model (SM) Higgs. In this talk I survey some general classes of alternatives and ways to tell them apart.

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arXiv2011

LHC Limits on the Top-Higgs in Models with Strong Top-Quark Dynamics

LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in WW or ZZ decay modes place strong constraints on the top-Higgs state predicted in many models with new dynamics preferentially affecting top quarks. Such a state couples strongly to top-quarks, and is therefore produced through gluon fusion at a rate enhanced relative to the rate for the standard model Higgs boson. A top-Higgs state with mass less than 300 GeV is excluded at 95% CL if the associated top-pion has a mass of 150 GeV, and the constraint is even stronger if the mass of the top-pion state exceeds the top-quark mass or if the top-pion decay constant is a substantial fraction of the weak scale. These results have significant implications for theories with strong top dynamics, such as topcolor-assisted technicolor, top-seesaw models, and certain Higgsless models.

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arXiv2011

Yukawa alignment from natural flavor conservation

We study the charged Higgs couplings to fermions in the "democratic" three-Higgs-doublet model, in which one doublet couples to down-type quarks, one to up-type quarks, and one to charged leptons. Flavor-changing neutral Higgs couplings are absent because the Glashow-Weinberg-Paschos condition for natural flavor conservation is in effect. We show that this model reproduces the coupling structure of the charged Higgs boson in the recently-proposed Yukawa-aligned two-Higgs-doublet model, with two subtle constraints that arise from the unitarity of the charged Higgs mixing matrix. Adding a fourth Higgs doublet with no couplings to fermions eliminates these constraints.

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arXiv2011

Model-independent Higgs coupling measurements at the LHC using the H \to ZZ \to 4l lineshape

We show that combining a direct measurement of the Higgs total width from the H \to ZZ \to 4l lineshape with Higgs signal rate measurements allows Higgs couplings to be extracted in a model-independent way from CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data. Using existing experimental studies with 30 fb-1 at one detector of the 14 TeV LHC, we show that the couplings-squared of a 190 GeV Higgs to WW, ZZ, and gg can be extracted with statistical precisions of about 10%, and a 95% confidence level upper limit on an unobserved component of the Higgs decay width of about 22% of the SM Higgs width can be set. The method can also be applied for heavier Higgs masses.

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arXiv2011

Dark matter annihilation through a lepton-specific Higgs boson

It was recently argued by Hooper and Goodenough [arXiv:1010.2752] that the excess gamma ray emission from within 1-2 degrees of the galactic center can be well-described by annihilation of ~8 GeV dark matter particles into tau pairs. I show that such a dark matter signal can be obtained naturally in the lepton-specific two-Higgs-doublet model extended by a stable singlet scalar dark matter candidate. The favored parameter region prefers a light Higgs state (below 200 GeV) with enhanced couplings to leptons and sizable invisible branching fraction. Part of the favored region leads to invisible decays of both of the CP-even neutral Higgs states.

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arXiv2011

Top-Higgs and Top-pion phenomenology in the Top Triangle Moose model

We discuss the deconstructed version of a topcolor-assisted technicolor model wherein the mechanism of top quark mass generation is separated from the rest of electroweak symmetry breaking. The minimal deconstructed version of this scenario is a "triangle moose" model, where the top quark gets its mass from coupling to a top-Higgs field, while the gauge boson masses are generated from a Higgsless sector. The spectrum of the model includes scalar (top-Higgs) and pseudoscalar (top-pion) states. In this paper, we study the properties of these particles, discuss their production mechanisms and decay modes, and suggest how best to search for them at the LHC.

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arXiv2010

LHC phenomenology of a two-Higgs-doublet neutrino mass model

We study the LHC search prospects for a model in which the neutrinos obtain Dirac masses from couplings to a second Higgs doublet with tiny vacuum expectation value. The model contains a charged Higgs boson that decays to l nu with branching fractions controlled by the neutrino masses and mixing angles as measured in neutrino oscillation experiments. The most promising signal is electroweak production of H+ H- pairs with decays to l l' pTmiss, where l l' = e+ e-, mu+ mu-, and e+- mu-+. We find that a cut on the kinematic variable M_{T2} eliminates most of the t t and W-pair background. Depending on the neutrino mass spectrum and mixing angles, a 100 (300) GeV charged Higgs could be discovered at the LHC with as little as 8 (24) fb-1 of integrated luminosity at 14 TeV pp center-of-mass energy.

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arXiv2010

Higgs couplings in a model with triplets

We study the couplings of a CP-even neutral Higgs boson h in a model containing one scalar SU(2)_L doublet, one real triplet, and one complex triplet with hypercharge 1. Because the two triplets contribute to the rho parameter with opposite signs, the triplet vacuum expectation values can be sizable. We show that (i) the hWW and hZZ couplings can be larger than the corresponding values in the Standard Model, and (ii) the ratio of the WW and ZZ couplings of h can be different than the corresponding ratio in the Standard Model. Neither of these results can occur in models containing only Higgs doublets. We also compute the rates for gg --> h --> WW and gg --> h --> ZZ and find that, for reasonable parameter values and M_h ~ 140-180 GeV, the hadron collider rate for gg --> h --> WW (ZZ) can be up to 20% (5 times) larger than in the Standard Model. We discuss implications for Higgs coupling extraction at the LHC.

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arXiv2010

Charged Higgs phenomenology in the flipped two Higgs doublet model

We study the phenomenology of the charged Higgs boson in the "flipped" two Higgs doublet model, in which one doublet gives mass to up-type quarks and charged leptons and the other gives mass to down-type quarks. We present the charged Higgs branching ratios and summarize the indirect constraints. We extrapolate existing LEP searches for H+H- and Tevatron searches for t tbar with t --> H+ b into the flipped model and extract constraints on MH+ and the parameter tan(beta). We finish by reviewing existing LHC charged Higgs searches and suggest that the LHC reach in this model could be extended for charged Higgs masses below the tb threshold by considering t tbar with t --> H+ b and H+ --> q qbar, as has been used in Tevatron searches.

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arXiv2009

Dirac neutrinos from a second Higgs doublet

We propose a minimal extension of the Standard Model in which neutrinos are Dirac particles and their tiny masses are explained without requiring tiny Yukawa couplings. A second Higgs doublet with a tiny vacuum expectation value provides neutrino masses while simultaneously improving the naturalness of the model by allowing a heavier Standard Model-like Higgs boson consistent with electroweak precision data. The model predicts a mu to e gamma rate potentially detectable in the current round of experiments, as well as distinctive signatures in the production and decay of the charged Higgs H+ of the second doublet which can be tested at future colliders. Neutrinoless double beta decay is absent.

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