arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Carena.
This is the "TeV4LHC" report of the "Physics Landscapes" Working Group, focused on facilitating the start-up of physics explorations at the LHC by using the experience gained at the Tevatron. We present experimental and theoretical results that can be employed to probe various scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model.
In a variety of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, the scalar partners of the quarks and leptons are predicted to be very heavy and beyond the reach of next-generation colliders. For instance, the realization of electroweak baryogenesis in supersymmetry requires new sources of CP-violation, which can only be naturally accommodated with electric dipole moment constraints if the first and second generation scalar fermions are beyond the TeV scale. Also in focus-point supersymmetry and split supersymmetry the scalar fermions are very heavy. In this work, the phenomenology of scenarios with electroweak baryogenesis and in the focus point region at the LHC and ILC is studied, which becomes challenging due to the presence of heavy scalar fermions. Implications for the analysis of baryogenesis and dark matter are deduced. It is found that precision measurements of superpartner properties allow an accurate determination of the dark matter relic density in both scenarios, while important but only incomplete information about the baryogenesis mechanism can be obtained.
There are many possibilities for new physics beyond the Standard Model that feature non-standard Higgs sectors. These may introduce new sources of CP violation, and there may be mixing between multiple Higgs bosons or other new scalar bosons. Alternatively, the Higgs may be a composite state, or there may even be no Higgs at all. These non-standard Higgs scenarios have important implications for collider physics as well as for cosmology, and understanding their phenomenology is essential for a full comprehension of electroweak symmetry breaking. This report discusses the most relevant theories which go beyond the Standard Model and its minimal, CP-conserving supersymmetric extension: two-Higgs-doublet models and minimal supersymmetric models with CP violation, supersymmetric models with an extra singlet, models with extra gauge groups or Higgs triplets, Little Higgs models, models in extra dimensions, and models with technicolour or other new strong dynamics. For each of these scenarios, this report presents an introduction to the phenomenology, followed by contributions on more detailed theoretical aspects and studies of possible experimental signatures at the LHC and other colliders.
We study the implications of minimal flavor violating low energy supersymmetry scenarios for the search of new physics in the B and Higgs sectors at the Tevatron collider and the LHC. We show that the already stringent Tevatron bound on the decay rate B_s -> mu+ mu- sets strong constraints on the possibility of generating large corrections to the mass difference Delta M_s of the B_s eigenstates. We also show that the B_s -> mu+ mu- bound together with the constraint on the branching ratio of the rare decay b -> s gamma has strong implications for the search of light, non-standard Higgs bosons at hadron colliders. In doing this, we demonstrate that the former expressions derived for the analysis of the double penguin contributions in the Kaon sector need to be corrected by additional terms for a realistic analysis of these effects. We also study a specific non-minimal flavor violating scenario, where there are flavor changing gluino-squark-quark interactions, governed by the CKM matrix elements, and show that the B and Higgs physics constraints are similar to the ones in the minimal flavor violating case. Finally we show that, in scenarios like electroweak baryogenesis which have light stops and charginos, there may be enhanced effects on the B and K mixing parameters, without any significant effect on the rate of B_s -> mu+ mu-.
The precision determination of scalar top quark properties will play an important role at a future International Linear Collider (ILC). Recent and ongoing studies are discussed for different experimental topologies in the detector. First results are presented for small mass differences between the scalar top and neutralino masses. This corresponds to a small expected visible energy in the detector. An ILC will be a unique accelerator to explore this scenario. In addition to finding the existence of light stop quarks, the precise measurement of their properties is crucial for testing their impact on the dark matter relic abundance and the mechanism of electroweak baryogenesis. Significant sensitivity for mass differences down to 5 GeV are obtained. The simulation is based on a fast and realistic detector simulation. A vertex detector concept of the Linear Collider Flavor Identification (LCFI)collaboration, which studies pixel detectors for heavy quark flavour identification, is implemented in the simulations for c-quark tagging. The study extends simulations for large mass differences (large visible energy) for which aspects of different detector simulations, the vertex detector design, and different methods for the determination of the scalar top mass are discussed. Based on the detailed simulations we study the uncertainties for the dark matter density predictions and their estimated uncertainties from various sources. In the region of parameters where stop-neutralino co-annihilation leads to a value of the relic density consistent with experimental results, as precisely determined by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), the stop-neutralino mass difference is small and the ILC will be able to explore this region efficiently.
This report reviews the properties of Higgs bosons in the Standard Model (SM) and its various extensions. We give an extensive overview about the potential of the ILC operated at centre-of-mass energies up to 1 TeV (including the gamma gamma option) for the determination of the Higgs boson properties. This comprises the measurement of the Higgs boson mass, its couplings to SM fermions and gauge bosons, and the determination of the spin and the CP quantum numbers of the Higgs. The extensions of the SM that are analyzed in more detail are heavy SM-like Higgs bosons, heavy Higgs bosons in the framework of Supersymmetry (SUSY) and further exotic scenarios. We review recent theoretical developments in the field of Higgs boson physics. The important question what the ILC can contribute to Higgs boson physics after the LHC, the LHC/ILC interplay and synergy is discussed. The impact of Higgs boson physics on cosmology in several SUSY frameworks is analyzed. The impact of the accelerator and dector performance on the precision of measurements are discussed in detail. We propose a strategy to optimize future analyses. Open questions arising for the various topics are listed, further topics of study and corresponding roadmaps are suggested.
The work contained herein constitutes a report of the "Beyond the Standard Model'' working group for the Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, France, 2-20 May, 2005. We present reviews of current topics as well as original research carried out for the workshop. Supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric models are studied, as well as computational tools designed in order to facilitate their phenomenology.
High-precision analyses of supersymmetry parameters aim at reconstructing the fundamental supersymmetric theory and its breaking mechanism. A well defined theoretical framework is needed when higher-order corrections are included. We propose such a scheme, Supersymmetry Parameter Analysis SPA, based on a consistent set of conventions and input parameters. A repository for computer programs is provided which connect parameters in different schemes and relate the Lagrangian parameters to physical observables at LHC and high energy e+e- linear collider experiments, i.e., masses, mixings, decay widths and production cross sections for supersymmetric particles. In addition, programs for calculating high-precision low energy observables, the density of cold dark matter (CDM) in the universe as well as the cross sections for CDM search experiments are included. The SPA scheme still requires extended efforts on both the theoretical and experimental side before data can be evaluated in the future at the level of the desired precision. We take here an initial step of testing the SPA scheme by applying the techniques involved to a specific supersymmetry reference point.
The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. The current limits from the Tevatron and the prospective sensitivities at the LHC are often interpreted in specific MSSM scenarios. For heavy Higgs boson production and subsequent decay into b \bar b or tau^+ tau^-, the present Tevatron data allow to set limits in the M_A-tan_beta plane for small M_A and large tan_beta values. Similar channels have been explored for the LHC, where the discovery reach extends to higher values of M_A and smaller tan_beta. Searches for MSSM charged Higgs bosons, produced in top decays or in association with top quarks, have also been investigated at the Tevatron and the LHC. We analyze the current Tevatron limits and prospective LHC sensitivities. We discuss how robust they are with respect to variations of the other MSSM parameters and possible improvements of the theoretical predictions for Higgs boson production and decay. It is shown that the inclusion of supersymmetric radiative corrections to the production cross sections and decay widths leads to important modifications of the present limits on the MSSM parameter space. The impact on the region where only the lightest MSSM Higgs boson can be detected at the LHC is also analyzed. We propose to extend the existing benchmark scenarios by including additional values of the higgsino mass parameter mu. This affects only slightly the search channels for a SM-like Higgs boson, while having a major impact on the searches for non-standard MSSM Higgs bosons.
A compelling framework to explain dark matter and electroweak baryogenesis is supersymmetry with light scalar top quarks (stops) and a small mass difference between the stop and the lightest neutralino. In this work, the stop detection capability at the ILC for small mass differences between the stop and the neutralino is studied. The analysis is based on a fast and realistic detector simulation. Significant sensitivity for mass differences down to 5 GeV is obtained. It is discussed how the relevant parameters of the scalar tops can be extracted and used to compute the dark matter density in the universe.
The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model opens the possibility of electroweak baryogenesis provided that the light scalar top quark (stop) is lighter than the top quark. In addition, the lightest neutralino is an ideal candidate to explain the existence of dark matter. For a light stop with mass close to the lightest neutralino, the stop-neutralino co-annihilation mechanism becomes efficient, thus rendering the predicted dark matter density compatible with observations. Such a stop may however remain elusive at hadron colliders. Here it is shown that a future linear collider provides a unique opportunity to detect and study the light stop. The production of stops with small stop-neutralino mass differences is studied in a detailed experimental analysis with a realistic detector simulation including a CCD vertex detector for flavor tagging. Furthermore, the linear collider, by precision measurements of superpartner masses and mixing angles, also allows to determine the dark matter relic density with an accuracy comparable to recent astrophysical observations.
The process of top quark pair production at the ILC with subsequent decays of one of the top quarks to a charged Higgs boson and b-quark is considered. The charged Higgs decays to tau leptons whose polarization is the opposite to those coming from W bosons. This difference is reflected in the energy distributions of the tau decay products in the top quark rest frame, which can be reconstructed at the ILC using the recoil mass technique. We present an analysis including spin correlations, backgrounds, ISR/FSR and beamstrahlung, and show that a fit of the shape of the pion energy spectrum yields the charged Higgs boson mass with an accuracy of about 1 GeV.
We examine the neutralino relic density in the presence of a light top squark, such as the one required for the realization of the electroweak baryogenesis mechanism, within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that there are three clearly distinguishable regions of parameter space, where the relic density is consistent with WMAP and other cosmological data. These regions are characterized by annihilation cross sections mediated by either light Higgs bosons, Z bosons, or by the co-annihilation with the lightest stop. Tevatron collider experiments can test the presence of the light stop in most of the parameter space. In the co-annihilation region, however, the mass difference between the light stop and the lightest neutralino varies between 15 and 30 GeV, presenting an interesting challenge for stop searches at hadron colliders. We present the prospects for direct detection of dark matter, which provides a complementary way of testing this scenario. We also derive the required structure of the high energy soft supersymmetry breaking mass parameters where the neutralino is a dark matter candidate and the stop spectrum is consistent with electroweak baryogenesis and the present bounds on the lightest Higgs mass.
We provide a detailed description of the Fortran code CPsuperH, a newly--developed computational package that calculates the mass spectrum and decay widths of the neutral and charged Higgs bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with explicit CP violation. The program is based on recent renormalization-group-improved diagrammatic calculations that include dominant higher--order logarithmic and threshold corrections, b-quark Yukawa-coupling resummation effects and Higgs-boson pole-mass shifts. The code CPsuperH is self--contained (with all subroutines included), is easy and fast to run, and is organized to allow further theoretical developments to be easily implemented. The fact that the masses and couplings of the charged and neutral Higgs bosons are computed at a similar high-precision level makes it an attractive tool for Tevatron, LHC and LC studies, also in the CP-conserving case.
We investigate the hadron collider phenomenology of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with explicit CP violation for Higgs bosons that can be observed in Standard Model search channels: W/ZH(->b-bbar) at the Tevatron, and gg->H(->gamma-gamma), t-tbar-H(->b-bbar) and WW->H(->tau+tau-) at the LHC. Our numerical analysis is based on a benchmark scenario proposed earlier called CPX, which has been designed to showcase the effects of CP violation in the MSSM, and on several variant benchmarks. In most of the CPX parameter space, these hadron colliders will find one of the neutral MSSM Higgs bosons. However, there are small regions of parameter space in which none of the neutral Higgs bosons can be detected in the standard channels at the Tevatron and the LHC. This occurs because the neutral Higgs boson with the largest coupling to W and Z bosons decays predominantly into either two lighter Higgs bosons or a Higgs boson and a gauge boson, whilst the lighter Higgs boson has only small couplings to the W and Z bosons and the top quark. For other choices of CP-violating parameters, all three neutral Higgs bosons can have significant couplings to W and Z bosons, producing overlapping signatures: these may or may not be distinguishable from backgrounds. The existence of these regions of parameters provides a strong motivation for a detailed experimental simulation of these channels.
Electroweak baryogenesis provides a very attractive scenario to explain the origin of the baryon asymmetry. The mechanism of electroweak baryogenesis makes use of the baryon number anomaly and relies on physics that can be tested experimentally. It is today understood that, if the Higgs mass is not larger than 120 GeV, this mechanism may be effective within supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. In this work, we reconsider the question of baryon number generation at the electroweak phase transition within the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. We derive the relevant diffusion equations, give a consistent definition of the sources, and compare our results with those appearing in the recent literature on this subject
Report of the Higgs working group for the Workshop `Physics at TeV Colliders', Les Houches, France, 21 May - 1 June 2001. It contains 7 separate sections: A. Theoretical Developments B. Higgs Searches at the Tevatron C. Experimental Observation of an invisible Higgs Boson at LHC D. Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson using Vector Boson Fusion at the LHC E. Study of the MSSM channel $A/H \to ττ$ at the LHC F. Searching for Higgs Bosons in $t\bar t H$ Production G. Studies of Charged Higgs Boson Signals for the Tevatron and the LHC
The ``Snowmass Points and Slopes'' (SPS) are a set of benchmark points and parameter lines in the MSSM parameter space corresponding to different scenarios in the search for Supersymmetry at present and future experiments. This set of benchmarks was agreed upon at the 2001 ``Snowmass Workshop on the Future of Particle Physics'' as a consensus based on different existing proposals.