arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Spira.
Yukawa couplings between Higgs bosons and quarks in supersymmetric theories can be measured in the processes e^+e^- -> Q Qbar + Higgs. We have determined the cross sections of these processes in the minimal supersymmetric model including the complete set of next-to-leading order QCD corrections for all channels.
We analyse the production of charginos/neutralinos and sleptons at the hadron colliders Tevatron and LHC in the direct channels: $p\bar{p}/pp \to \tildeχ_i \tildeχ_j + X$ and $\tilde{\ell} \bar{\tilde{\ell}'} +X$. The cross sections for these reactions are given in next-to-leading order SUSY QCD. By including the higher-order corrections, the predictions become theoretically stable, being nearly independent of the factorization and renormalization scales. Since the corrections increase the cross sections, the discovery range for these particles is extended in the refined analysis.
We discuss W boson production at HERA including NLO QCD corrections.
The calculation of the next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections to the production of squarks, gluinos and gauginos at the Tevatron is reviewed. The NLO corrections stabilize the theoretical predictions of the various production cross sections significantly and lead to sizeable enhancements of the most relevant cross sections for scales near the average mass of the produced massive particles. We discuss the phenomenological consequences of the results on present and future experimental analyses.
The strength of the Yukawa coupling of the leptons and quarks with the Higgs boson is uniquely determined by the Higgs mechanism for generating masses in the Standard Model. The top-Higgs coupling can be measured directly in the process e^+e^- --> t tbar H. This process therefore provides a fundamental test of the Higgs mechanism. Extending earlier analyses carried out in the Born approximation, we have determined the cross section for this process including QCD corrections, which turn out to be important.
The calculation of the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of a neutral Higgs-boson pair is briefly summarized. The dominant production mechanism is gluon fusion via top-quark loops, so that the QCD corrections can be considered, to good approximation, in the limit of a heavy top-quark mass.
Neutral Higgs-boson pair production provides the possibility of studying the trilinear Higgs couplings at future high-energy colliders. We present the QCD corrections to the gluon-initiated processes in the limit of a heavy top quark in the loops and the Drell-Yan-like pair production of scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs particles. The pp cross sections are discussed for LHC energies within the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension. The QCD corrections are large, enhancing the total cross sections significantly.
Stop particles are expected to be the lightest squarks in supersymmetric theories and the search for these particles is an important experimental task. We therefore present the cross sections for the production processes $p\bar{p}/pp \to \ste\steb$ and $\stz\stzb$ at Tevatron and LHC energies in next-to-leading order supersymmetric QCD. The corrections stabilize the theoretical predictions for the cross sections, and they are positive, thus raising the cross sections to values above the leading-order predictions. Mixed $\ste\stzb/\steb\stz$ pairs can only be generated in higher orders at strongly suppressed rates.
The cross section for the inclusive photoproduction of large-p_T D^*+- mesons is calculated at next-to-leading order, adopting different approaches to describe the fragmentation of charm quarks into D^*+- mesons. We treat the charm quark according to the massless factorization scheme, where it is assumed to be one of the active flavours inside the proton and the photon. We present inclusive single-particle distributions in transverse momentum and rapidity, including the contributions due to both direct and resolved photons. We compare and assess the various implementations of fragmentation. We argue that, in the high-p_T regime, a particularly realistic description can be obtained by convoluting the Altarelli-Parisi-evolved fragmentation functions of Peterson et al. with the hard-scattering cross sections of massless partons where the factorization of the collinear singularities associated with final-state charm quarks is converted to the massive-charm scheme. The predictions thus obtained agree well with recent experimental data by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations at DESY HERA.
The search for charged Higgs bosons, which are predicted in supersymmetric theories, is difficult at hadron colliders if the mass is large. In this paper we present the theoretical set-up for the production of charged Higgs boson pairs at the LHC in gluon-gluon collisions: $pp -> gg -> H^+ H^-$. When established experimentally, the trilinear couplings between charged and neutral CP-even Higgs bosons, $H^+ H^- h^0$ and $H^+ H^- H^0$, can be measured.
We describe the Fortran code HDECAY which calculates the decay widths and the branching ratios of the Standard Model Higgs boson, and of the neutral and charged Higgs particles of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model. The program is self-contained (with all subroutines included), easy to run, fast and calculates the decay widths and branching ratios according to the current theoretical knowledge.
We present the cross section for pair production of scalar leptoquarks $LQ$ in $p\bar{p}$ collisions, $p+\bar{p} \to LQ + \bar{LQ} + X$, at the Fermilab Tevatron in next-to-leading order QCD. Including the higher-order corrections stabilizes the theoretical prediction and increases the size of the cross section for renormalization/factorization scales close to the mass of the leptoquarks. This leads to an increase of the lower bound on the mass of scalar leptoquarks by up to 15 GeV with respect to earlier analyses.
The cross sections for the formation of scalar resonances, leptoquarks or squarks, in electron/positron-proton collisions at HERA are presented including next-to-leading order QCD corrections. Depending mildly on the mass of the resonances, the K-factors increase the production cross sections by up to 30% if the target quarks are valence quarks. The QCD corrections to the partial decay widths of leptoquarks/squarks to leptons and quarks are small. The electron spectrum in the decays is softened nevertheless by perturbative gluon radiation at a level of 3.4 GeV for a leptoquark/squark mass of 200 GeV.
A Fortran-program for the production cross-sections of squarks and gluinos at hadron colliders is described. It includes full next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections to all possible final states ($\squark\squarkbar, \gluino\gluino, \squark\gluino, \squark\squark$). The program allows to calculate total cross-sections as well as differential distributions in the transverse momentum p_t and the rapidity y of one of the outgoing particles. In addition cuts in p_t and y can easily be implemented.
We have determined the theoretical predictions for the cross-sections of squark and gluino production at $\ppb$ and $pp$ colliders (Tevatron and LHC) in next-to-leading order of supersymmetric QCD. By reducing the dependence on the renormalization/factorization scale considerably, the theoretically predicted values for the cross-sections are much more stable if these higher-order corrections are implemented. If squarks and gluinos are discovered, this improved stability translates into a reduced error on the masses, as extracted experimentally from the size of the production cross-sections. The cross-sections increase significantly if the next-to-leading order corrections are included at a renormalization/factorization scale near the average mass of the produced massive particles. This rise results in improved lower bounds on squark and gluino masses. By contrast, the shape of the transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions remains nearly unchanged when the next-to-leading order corrections are included.
We calculate the two-loop QCD corrections to the production of the neutral supersymmetric Higgs bosons via the gluon fusion mechanism at hadron colliders, including the contributions of squark loops. To a good approximation, these additional contributions lead to the same QCD corrections as in the case where only top and bottom quark loops are taken into account. The QCD corrections are large and increase the Higgs production cross sections significantly.
Pair production processes of neutral Higgs particles will allow us to study the trilinear Higgs couplings at future high--energy colliders. Several mechanisms give rise to multi--Higgs final states in hadron interactions. In the present paper we investigate Higgs pair production in gluon--gluon collisions. After recapitulating pair production in the Standard Model, the analysis of the cross sections is carried out in detail for the neutral Higgs particles in the minimal supersymmetric extension.
In this report we review the prospects for Higgs physics at LEP2. The theoretical aspects and the phenomenology of Higgs particles are discussed within the Standard Model (SM) and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The experimental search techniques are described and the discovery limits for Higgs bosons in the LEP2 energy range are summarized. In addition, opportunities of detecting Higgs particles in non-minimal extensions of the SM and the MSSM are investigated.