arXiv subjects

Kamila Kowalska

Publications and source records attributed to Kamila Kowalska.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Road map through the desert: unification with vector-like fermions

In light of null results from New Physics searches at the LHC, we look at unification of the gauge couplings as a model-building principle. As a first step, we consider extensions of the Standard Model with vector-like fermions. We present a comprehensive list of spectra that feature fermions in two distinct $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y$ representations, in which precise gauge coupling unification is achieved. We derive upper and lower limits on vector-like masses from proton decay measurements, running of the strong gauge coupling, heavy stable charged particle searches, and electroweak precision tests. We demonstrate that due to a particular hierarchy among the mass parameters required by the unification condition, complementarity of various experimental strategies allows us to probe many of the successful scenarios up to at least 10 TeV.

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arXiv2019

Implications for New Physics in $b\to s μμ$ transitions after recent measurements by Belle and LHCb

We present a Bayesian analysis of the implications for new physics in semileptonic $b\to s$ transitions after including new measurements of $R_K$ at LHCb and new determinations of $R_{K^*}$ and $R_{K^{*+}}$ at Belle. We perform global fits with 1, 2, 4, and 8 input Wilson coefficients, plus one CKM nuisance parameter to take into account uncertainties that are not factorizable. We infer the 68% and 95.4% credibility regions of the marginalized posterior probability density for all scenarios and perform comparisons of models in pairs by calculating the Bayes factor given a common data set. We then proceed to analyzing a few well known BSM models that can provide a high energy framework for the EFT analysis. These include the exchange of a heavy $Z^{'}$ boson in models with heavy vector-like fermions and a scalar field, and a model with scalar leptoquarks. We provide predictions for the BSM couplings and expected mass values.

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arXiv2019

Global Bayesian Analysis of new physics in $b \to s μμ$ transitions after Moriond-2019

The recent measurement of $R_K$ at LHCb continues to support the hint of violation of lepton flavor universality. We perform a global fit for new physics in semileptonic $b\to s$ transitions using all the relevant data with a Bayesian analysis technique. We include new measurements of $R_K$ at LHCb and new determinations of $R_{K^*}$ and $R_{K^{*+}}$ at Belle. We perform the scan for various NP scenarios and infer the 68\% and 95.4\% credibility regions of the marginalized posterior probability density for all scenarios. We also compare the models in pairs by calculating the Bayes factor given a common data set. A few well-known BSM models are analyzed that can provide a high energy framework for the EFT analysis. These include the exchange of a heavy $Z^{'}$ boson in models with heavy vector-like fermions and a scalar field, and a model with scalar leptoquarks. We provide predictions for the BSM couplings and expected mass values.

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arXiv2018

The discreet charm of higgsino dark matter - a pocket review

We give a brief review of the current constraints and prospects for detection of higgsino dark matter in low-scale supersymmetry. In the first part we argue, after performing a survey of all potential dark matter particles in the MSSM, that the (nearly) pure higgsino is the only candidate emerging virtually unscathed from the wealth of observational data of recent years. In doing so by virtue of its gauge quantum numbers and electroweak symmetry breaking only, it maintains at the same time a relatively high degree of model-independence. In the second part we properly review the prospects for detection of a higgsino-like neutralino in direct underground dark matter searches, collider searches, and indirect astrophysical signals. We provide estimates for the typical scale of the superpartners and fine tuning in the context of traditional scenarios where the breaking of supersymmetry is mediated at about the scale of Grand Unification and where strong expectations for a timely detection of higgsinos in underground detectors are closely related to the measured 125 GeV mass of the Higgs boson at the LHC.

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arXiv2018

Flavor anomalies and dark matter in SUSY with an extra U(1)

Motivated by the recent anomalies in $b\rightarrow s$ transitions that emerged at LHCb, we consider a model with an $L_μ- L_τ$ gauge symmetry and additional vector-like fermions. We find that by introducing supersymmetry the model can be made consistent with the long-standing deviation in the measured value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $g-2$, and neutralino dark matter of broad mass ranges and properties. In particular, dark matter candidates include the well-known 1 TeV higgsino, which in the MSSM is typically not compatible with solutions to the $g-2$ puzzle. Moreover, its spin-independent cross section could be at the origin of the recent small excess in XENON-1T data. We apply to the model constraints arising from flavor precision measurements and direct searches at the Large Hadron Collider and show that they do not currently exclude the relevant parameter space regions.

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arXiv2018

Gauge contribution to the $1/N_F$ expansion of the Yukawa coupling beta function

We provide a closed analytical form for the gauge contribution to the beta function of a generic Yukawa coupling in the limit of large $N_F$, where $N_F$ is the number of heavy vector-like fermions charged under an abelian or non-abelian gauge group. The resummed expression is finite and for the abelian case presents a pole at the same location as for the corresponding gauge beta function. When applied to new physics scenarios characterized by large Yukawa couplings, the contribution calculated here can cure their pathological UV behavior and make the couplings asymptotically free.

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arXiv2017

Directions for model building from asymptotic safety

Building on recent advances in the understanding of gauge-Yukawa theories we explore possibilities to UV-complete the Standard Model in an asymptotically safe manner. Minimal extensions are based on a large flavor sector of additional fermions coupled to a scalar singlet matrix field. We find that asymptotic safety requires fermions in higher representations of $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L$. Possible signatures at colliders are worked out and include $R$-hadron searches, diboson signatures and the evolution of the strong and weak coupling constants.

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arXiv2017

Expectations for the muon g-2 in simplified models with dark matter

We investigate simplified models of new physics that can accommodate the measured value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and the relic density of dark matter. We define a set of renormalizable, SU(2)$\times$U(1) invariant extensions of the Standard Model, each comprising an inert $Z_2$-odd scalar field and one or more vector-like pairs of colorless fermions that communicate to the muons through Yukawa-type interactions. The new sectors are classified according to their transformation properties under the Standard Model gauge group and all models are systematically confronted with a variety of experimental constraints: LEP mass bounds, direct LHC searches, electroweak precision observables, and direct searches for dark matter. We show that scenarios featuring only one type of new fermions become very predictive once the relic density and collider constraints are taken into account, as in this case $g-2$ is not enhanced by chirality flip. Conversely, for models where an additional source of chiral-symmetry violation is generated via fermion mixing, the constraints are much looser and new precision experiments with highly suppressed systematic uncertainties may be required to test the parameter space.

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arXiv2017

Blind Spots for Direct Detection with Simplified DM Models and the LHC

Using the existing simplified model framework, we build several dark matter models which have suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section. We show that the scattering cross section can vanish due to interference effects with models obtained by simple combinations of simplified models. For weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) masses $\gtrsim$10 GeV, collider limits are usually much weaker than the direct detection limits coming from LUX or XENON100. However, for our model combinations, LHC analyses are more competitive for some parts of the parameter space. The regions with direct detection blind spots can be strongly constrained from the complementary use of several Large Hadron Collider (LHC) searches like mono-jet, jets + missing transverse energy, heavy vector resonance searches, etc. We evaluate the strongest limits for combinations of scalar + vector, "squark" + vector, and scalar + "squark" mediator, and present the LHC 14 TeV projections.

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arXiv2017

MSSM fits to the ATLAS 1 lepton excess

We use the framework of the p19MSSM to perform a fit to the mild excesses over the Standard Model background recently observed in three bins of the ATLAS 1-lepton + (b-)jets + MET search. We find a few types of spectra that can fit the emerging signal and at the same time are not excluded by other LHC searches. They can be grouped roughly in two categories. The first class is characterized by the presence of one stop or stop and sbottoms with mass in the ballpark of 700-800 GeV and a neutralino LSP of mass around 400 GeV, with or without the additional presence of an intermediate chargino. In the second type of scenarios the stop, lightest chargino, sbottom if present, and the neutralino are about or heavier than ~650 GeV and the signal originates from cascade decays of squarks of the 1st and 2nd generation, which should have a mass of 1.1-1.2 TeV. For the best-fit scenarios, we compare the global chi-squared with respect to several ATLAS and CMS searches with the corresponding chi-squared of the Standard Model expectation, showing that the putative signal is also favored globally with respect to the background only hypothesis. We point out that if the observed excess persists in the next round of data, it should be accompanied by associated significant excesses in all-hadronic final state searches.

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arXiv2016

Phenomenological MSSM in light of new 13 TeV LHC data

We present the first analysis of the p19MSSM with neutralino dark matter, in light of 13 TeV LHC data with an integrated luminosity of ~14/fb. We recast twelve experimental analyses performed by the ATLAS collaboration and derive exclusion bounds on the parameter space of the model. We find that 25% of the model points can be excluded at 95% C.L. by a combination of the implemented searches. The spectrum allowed after the 13 TeV results are taken into account presents stops heavier than at least 400 GeV, gluinos heavier than at least 790 GeV, and squarks of the first and second generation heavier than at least 440 GeV.

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arXiv2016

Less-simplified models of dark matter for direct detection and the LHC

We construct models of dark matter with suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section utilizing the existing simplified model framework. Even simple combinations of simplified models can exhibit interference effects that cause the tree level contribution to the scattering cross section to vanish, thus demonstrating that direct detection limits on simplified models are not robust when embedded in a more complicated and realistic framework. In general for fermionic WIMP masses >10 GeV direct detection limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section are much stronger than those coming from the LHC. However these model combinations, which we call less-simplified models, represent situations where LHC searches become more competitive than direct detection experiments even for moderate dark matter mass. We show that a complementary use of several searches at the LHC can strongly constrain the direct detection blind spots by setting limits on the coupling constants and mediators' mass. We derive the strongest limits for combinations of vector + scalar, vector + "squark", and "squark" + scalar mediator, and present the corresponding projections for the LHC 14 TeV for a number of searches: mono-jet, jets + missing energy, and searches for heavy vector resonances.

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arXiv2016

Flavored gauge mediation in the Peccei-Quinn NMSSM

We investigate a particular version of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) NMSSM characterized by an economical and rigidly hierarchical flavor structure and based on flavored gauge mediation and on some considerations inspired by string theory GUTs. In this way we can express the Lagrangian of the PQ NMSSM through very few parameters. The obtained model is studied numerically and confronted with the most relevant phenomenological constraints. We show that typical spectra are for the most part too heavy to be significantly probed at the LHC, but regions of the parameter space exist yielding signatures that might possibly be observed during Run II. We also calculate the fine tuning of the model. We show that, in spite of the appearance of large scales in the superpotential and soft terms, it does not exceed the tuning present in the MSSM for equivalent spectra, which is of the order of 10^4.

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arXiv2015

Exact SU(5) Yukawa matrix unification in the General Flavour Violating MSSM

We investigate the possibility of satisfying the $SU(5)$ boundary condition $\mathbf{Y}^d=\mathbf{Y}^{e\,T}$ at the GUT scale within the renormalizable $R$-parity conserving Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Working in the super-CKM basis, we consider non-zero flavour off-diagonal entries in the soft SUSY-breaking mass matrices and the $A$-terms. At the same time, the diagonal $A$-terms are assumed to be suppressed by the respective Yukawa couplings. We show that a non-trivial flavour structure of the soft SUSY-breaking sector can contribute to achieving precise Yukawa coupling unification for all the three families. However, large non-zero values of the flavour-violating parameter $(m^2_{dl})_{12}$ lead to a strong tension with the Lepton Flavour Violating (LFV) observables. Nevertheless, the LFV problem does not arise when the Yukawa coupling unification requirement is restricted to the second and third families only. We demonstrate that such a scenario is consistent with a wide set of experimental constraints, including flavour and electroweak observables, Higgs physics and the LHC bounds. We also point out that in order to provide a proper value for the relic density of dark matter, the lightest neutralino needs to be almost purely bino-like and with mass in the range of 200$÷$600 GeV. Such a clear experimental prediction makes the flavour-violating $SU(5)$ Yukawa unification scenario fully testable at the LHC 14 TeV.

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arXiv2015

GUT-inspired SUSY and the muon g-2 anomaly: prospects for LHC 14 TeV

We consider the possibility that the muon g-2 anomaly, $δ(g-2)$, finds its origins in low energy supersymmetry (SUSY). In the general MSSM the parameter space consistent with $δ(g-2)$ and correct dark matter relic density of the lightest neutralino easily evades the present direct LHC limits on sparticle masses and also lies to a large extent beyond future LHC sensitivity. The situation is quite different in GUT-defined scenarios where input SUSY parameters are no longer independent. We analyze to what extent the LHC can probe a broad class of GUT-inspired SUSY models with gaugino non-universality that are currently in agreement with the bounds from $δ(g-2)$, as well as with the relic density and the Higgs mass measurement. To this end we perform a detailed numerical simulation of several searches for electroweakino and slepton production at the LHC and derive projections for the LHC 14 TeV run. We show that, within GUT-scale SUSY there is still plenty of room for the explanation of the muon anomaly, although the current LHC data already imply strong limits on the parameter space consistent with $δ(g-2)$. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the parameter space will be basically fully explored within the sensitivity of the 14 TeV run with 300 fb$^{-1}$. This opens up the interesting possibility that, if the g-2 anomaly is real then some positive signals must be detected at the LHC, or else these models will be essentially ruled out. Finally, we identify the few surviving spectra that will provide a challenge for detection at the LHC 14 TeV run and we characterize their properties.

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arXiv2014

Phenomenology of SUSY with General Flavour Violation

We discuss the consequences of relaxing the Minimal Flavour Violation assumption in the up-squark sector on the phenomenology of SUSY models. We study the impact of the off-diagonal entries in the soft SUSY-breaking matrices on the mass of the lightest Higgs scalar and we derive the approximate analytical formulae that quantify this effect. We show that $m_h$ can be enhanced by up to 13-14 GeV in the case of the phenomenological MSSM with the inverted hierarchy of masses in the squark sector and zero stop mixing, and up to 4-5 GeV in GUT-constrained scenarios where the magnitude of the enhancement is mitigated by renormalization group effects. We also perform a global analysis of an inverted hierarchy GFV scenario, taking into account the experimental bounds from the measurements of relic density, EW precision observables and B-physics. We show that the allowed parameter space of the model is strongly constrained by $m_W$, $\sin^2θ_{eff}$ and $BR(B_s \to μ^+μ^-)$, requiring $m_0(3)$<1500 GeV and $m_{1/2}$<1800 GeV, as well as a large non-zero (2,3) entry in the up-squark trilinear matrix.

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arXiv2014

Low fine tuning in the MSSM with higgsino dark matter and unification constraints

We examine the issue of fine tuning in the MSSM with GUT-scale boundary conditions. We identify specific unification patterns and mass relations that can lead to a significant lowering of the fine tuning due to gauginos, scalars, and the μ parameter, relative to the simplest unification conditions. We focus on a phenomenologically interesting region that is favored by the Higgs mass and the relic density where the dark matter is a nearly pure higgsino with mass given by μ~1 TeV while the scalars and gauginos have masses in the multi-TeV regime. There, we find that the fine tuning can be reduced to the level of a few percent. Despite the gluino mass in the ballpark of 2 TeV, resulting mass spectra will be hard to explore at the LHC, but good prospects for detection come from dark matter direct detection experiments. Finally, we demonstrate with a specific example how the conditions and mass relations giving low fine tuning can originate in the context of supergravity and Grand Unified Theories.

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arXiv2013

Natural MSSM after the LHC 8 TeV run

We investigate the impact of direct LHC SUSY searches on the parameter space of three natural scenarios in the MSSM. In the first case the spectrum consists of light stops, sbottoms, and Higgsino-like neutralinos, while the other particles are assumed to be out of the experimental reach. In the second case we consider an additional light gluino. Finally we study a more complex spectrum comprising also light sleptons, a wino-like chargino, and a bino-like neutralino. We simulate in detail three LHC searches: stop production at ATLAS with 20.7/fb, CMS 11.7/fb inclusive search for squarks and gluinos with the variable α_T, and CMS 9.2/fb electroweak production with 3 leptons in the final state. For each point in our scans we calculate the exclusion likelihood due to the individual searches and to their statistical combination. We calculate the fine-tuning measure of the points allowed by the LHC and the implications for the Higgs mass and other phenomenological observables: Higgs signal rates, the relic density, BR(Bs --> μ^+μ^-), BR(B --> Xs γ), and the spin-independent neutralino-proton scattering cross section. We find that points with acceptable levels of fine-tuning are for the most part already excluded by the LHC and including the other constraints further reduces the overall naturalness of our scenarios.

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