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Linda M. Carpenter

Publications and source records attributed to Linda M. Carpenter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2013

Confronting the Fermi Line with LHC data: an Effective Theory of Dark Matter Interaction with Photons

We describe an effective theory of interaction between pairs of dark matter particles and pairs of photons. Such an interaction could accomodate $χ\barχ\rightarrowγγ$ processes which might be the cause of the observed feature in the FermiLAT spectrum, as well as $γ^*/Z\rightarrow γχ\barχ$ processes, which would predict excesses at the LHC in the $γ+\missET$ final-state. We reinterpret an ATLAS $γ+\missET$ analysis and the observed Fermi feature in the parameter space of our new effective theory to assess their consistency.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Collider searches for dark matter in events with a Z boson and missing energy

Searches for dark matter at colliders typically involve signatures with energetic initial-state radiation without visible recoil particles. Searches for mono-jet or mono-photon signatures have yielded powerful constraints on dark matter interactions with Standard Model particles. We extend this to the mono-Z signature and reinterpret an ATLAS analysis of events with a Z boson and missing transverse momentum to derive constraints on dark matter interaction mass scale and nucleon cross sections in the context of effective field theories describing dark matter which interacts via heavy mediator particles with quarks or weak bosons.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2012

Dirac Gauginos, Negative Supertraces and Gauge Mediation

In an attempt to maximize General Gauge Mediated parameter space, I propose simple models in which gauginos and scalars are generated from disconnected mechanisms. In my models Dirac gauginos are generated through the supersoft mechanism, while independent R-symmetric scalar masses are generated through operators involving non-zero messenger supertrace. I propose several new methods for generating negative messenger supertraces which result in viable positive mass squareds for MSSM scalars. The resultant spectra are novel, compressed and may contain light fermionic SM adjoint fields.

hep-th↗
arXiv2012

Pseudo-Higgs Signals a the LHC

We consider general fermi-phobic scenarios in which excess events in diphoton or WW/ZZ resonances may be seen at LHC. These Higgs like signals do not necessarily suggest that the new resonance is a particle with Yukawa couplings nor do we know that it is responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. We can, however, extract two facts from it, this particle couples to pairs of SU(2) and U(1) gauge bosons and it must be a scalar, pseudoscalar, or tensor. We consider the signals of general operators up to effective dimension 5 in which a new scalar, psuedo-scalar, or tensor particle may couple to pairs of standard model gauge bosons. This particle may or may not be charged under the standard model gauge groups, and may be produced via gluon fusion or EW vector boson fusion.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

Higgs Decays to Unstable Neutrinos: Collider Constraints from Inclusive Like-Sign Dilepton Searches

We study the pair production of fourth generation neutrinos from the decay of an on-shell Higgs produced by gluon fusion. In a fourth generation scenario, the Higgs branching fraction into fourth generation neutrinos may be quite large. In the case that the unstable heavy neutrinos are a mixed Majorana and Dirac state, neutrinos pair-produced from Higgs decay will yield a substantial number of like-sign dilepton events. In this article we use inclusive like-sign dilepton searches from hadron colliders to constrain the theoretical parameter space of fourth generation leptons.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

Higgs Search Constraints on Fourth Generation Scenarios with General Lepton Sectors

I present a general exclusion bound for the Higgs in fourth generation scenarios with a general lepton sector. Recent Higgs searches in fourth generation scenarios rule out the entire Higgs mass region between 120 and 600 GeV. That such a large range of Higgs masses are excluded is due to the presence of extra heavy flavors of quarks, which substantially increase Higgs production from gluon fusion over the Standard Model rate. However, if heavy fourth generation neutrinos are less than half of the Higgs mass, they can dominate the Higgs decay branching fraction, overtaking the standard Higgs to WW* decay rate. The Higgs mass exclusion in a fourth generation scenario is shown most generally to be 155-600 GeV, and is highly dependent on the fourth generation neutrino mixing parameter.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2011

Color-Octet-Electroweak-Doublet Scalars and the CDF Dijet Anomaly

We study the phenomenology of color-octet scalars in the (8, 2)1/2 representation in the context of the 3.2σexcess, in the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the W+jj final state, recently observed by the CDF collaboration. We consider the region of parameter space with a sizable mass splitting between the charged and neutral color-octet scalars and consistent with electroweak precision data. We implement the principle of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV) in order to suppress FCNC currents and reduce the number of free parameters. The excess in the W+jj channel corresponds to the charged current decay of the heavier neutral octet scalar into its lighter charged partner which decays into the two jets. In the MFV scenario, the production of the neutral color-octet is dominated by gluon fusion due to the Yukawa suppression of production via initial state quarks. As a result, no visible excess is expected in the γ+jj channel due to Yukawa and CKM suppression. Contributions to the Z+jj final state are suppressed for a mass spectrum where the decay of the heavier color-octet to this final state is mediated by an off-shell neutral color-octet partner. MFV allows one to control fraction of bottom quarks in the final state jets by a single ratio of two free parameters.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Fourth Generation Lepton Sectors with Stable Majorana Neutrinos: From LEP to LHC

I analyze a fourth generation lepton sector in which the lightest particle is a stable Majorana neutrino. In this scenario fourth generation neutrinos have both a Dirac and Majorana mass, resulting in two Majorana neutrino mass eigenstates. A reanalysis of LEP's lower mass bound is performed on stable Majorana neutrinos from the Z width and the lower mass bound is loosened. I also extrapolate LEP's SUSY squark search with a 2 jet plus missing missing energy final state to the production and decay of a pair of heavy Majorana neutrinos; here it is expected that significant regions of the neutrino mass plane may be ruled out. Finally, a search strategy is proposed for heavy fourth generation neutrino pairs at LHC in the four lepton plus missing energy channel. Exclusions are set in the neutrino mass plane for 30 inverse fb of data at LHC for 13 TeV.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Searches for Fourth Generation Charged Leptons

We study the production and decay of fourth generation leptons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).We find that for charged leptons with masses under a few hundred GeV, the dominant collider signal comes from the production through a W-boson of a charged and neutral fourth generation lepton. We present a sensitivity study for this process in events with two like-sign charged leptons and at least two associated jets. We show that with sqrts = 7 TeV and 1 inverse fb of data, the LHC can exclude fourth generation charged leptons with masses up to 250 GeV.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Revisiting Constraints on Fourth Generation Neutrino Masses

We revisit the current experimental bounds on fourth-generation Majorana neutrino masses, including the effects of right handed neutrinos. Current bounds from LEPII are significantly altered by a global analysis. We show that the current bounds on fourth generation neutrinos decaying to eW and mu W can be reduced to about 80 GeV (from the current bound of 90 GeV), while a neutrino decaying to tau W can be as light as 62.1 GeV. The weakened bound opens up a neutrino decay channel for intermediate mass Higgs, and interesting multi-particle final states for Higgs and fourth generation lepton decays.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2010

Axions in Gauge Mediation

In supersymmetric theories, the presence of axions usually implies the existence of a non-compact, (pseudo)moduli space. In gauge mediated models, the axion would seem a particularly promising dark matter candidate. The cosmology of the moduli then constrains the gravitino mass and the axion decay constant; the former can't be much below 10 MeV; the latter can't be much larger than 10^{13} GeV. Axinos, when identifiable, are typically heavy and do not play an important role in cosmology.

hep-th↗
arXiv2009

Dynamics of the Peccei Quinn Scale

Invoking the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) solution to the strong CP problem substitutes the puzzle of why $θ_{qcd}$ is so small with the puzzle of why the PQ symmetry is of such high quality. Cosmological and astrophysical considerations raise further puzzles. This paper explores this issues in several contexts: string theory and field theory, and theories without and with low energy supersymmetry. Among the questions studied are whether requiring axion dark matter can account for the quality of the PQ symmetry, to which the answer is sometimes yes. In non-supersymmetric theories, we find $f_a = 10^{12}$ GeV is quite plausible. In gauge mediation, cosmological constraints on pseudomoduli place $f_a$ in this range, and require that the gravitino mass be of order an MeV.

hep-th↗
arXiv2008

Surveying the Phenomenology of General Gauge Mediation

I explore the phenomenology, constraints and tuning for several weakly coupled implementations of multi-parameter gauge mediation and compare to minimal gauge mediation. The low energy spectra are distinct from that of minimal gauge mediation, a wide range of NLSPs is found and spectra are significantly compressed thus tunings may be generically reduced to a part in 10 to a part in 20.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Gauge Mediation with D-terms

I propose implementing General Gauge Mediation using the class of $SU(N) \times U(1)$ SUSY breaking models. As an existence proof, I have utilized the 4-1 model in building multi-parameter gauge mediation. These hidden sectors are relatively easy to use and avoid several model building pitfalls such as runaway directions. In addition models require no special tuning and may produce as many parameters as general gauge mediation allows.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Implementing General Gauge Mediation

Recently there has been much progress in building models of gauge mediation, often with predictions different than those of minimal gauge mediation. Meade, Seiberg, and Shih have characterized the most general spectrum which can arise in gauge mediated models. We discuss some of the challenges of building models of General Gauge Mediation, especially the problem of messenger parity and issues connected with R symmetry breaking and CP violation. We build a variety of viable, weakly coupled models which exhibit some or all of the possible low energy parameters.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

New Light Windows for Sparticle Masses and Higgs Decays in the R Parity Violating MSSM

In supersymmetric models with R parity violation, constraints on superpartner masses are significantly weaker than in models which conserve R parity. We find in regions of parameter space where a neutral gaugino or third generation scalar is decoupled from the Z and/or traditional gaugino mass relationships do not hold allow some particles to be light enough to allow them to be the decay products of the Higgs. For example, surprisingly a stau could be lighter than 30 GeV if it decays hadronically. We estimate the Higgs bounds when one of these decays dominates and find allowed Higgs masses well below the current LEP bound on the standard model Higgs. We also survey the rich variety of final states in Higgs production.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

Reduced Fine-Tuning in Supersymmetry with R-parity violation

Both electroweak precision measurements and simple supersymmetric extensions of the standard model prefer a mass of the Higgs boson less than the experimental lower limit of 114 GeV. We show that supersymmetric models with R parity violation and baryon number violation have a significant range of parameter space in which the Higgs dominantly decays to six jets. These decays are much more weakly constrained by current LEP analyses and would allow for a Higgs mass near that of the $Z$. In general, lighter scalar quark and other superpartner masses are allowed and the fine-tuning typically required to generate the measured scale of electroweak symmetry breaking is ameliorated. The Higgs would potentially be discovered at hadron colliders via the appearance of new displaced vertices. The lightest neutralino could be discovered by a scan of vertex-less events LEP I data.

hep-ph↗