arXiv subjects

Mariana Frank

Publications and source records attributed to Mariana Frank.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Neutralino and Chargino Production in U(1)' at the LHC

We examine the production and the decay modes of neutralinos and charginos in a softly-broken supersymmetric model with an extra Abelian symmetry U(1)'. We perform the study in a U(1)' model with a secluded sector, where the tension between the electroweak scale and developing a large enough mass for Z' is resolved by incorporating three additional SU(2) singlet fields into the model. Although the chargino sector is the same as in the MSSM, the neutralino sector of the model is very rich: five new fermion fields are added to the neutral sector bring the total neutralino states to nine. We implement the model into standard packages and perform a detailed and systematic analysis of production and decay modes at the LHC, for three different scenarios, and concentrating on final signals (1) 1 lepton+jets +MET, (2) 2 leptons+jets +MET and (3) 3 lepton+0jets +MET, and comment on the case with 0 lepton+jets +MET. We discuss backgrounds and indicate how these signals can be observed, and how the model can be distinguished from other supersymmetric model scenarios.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Higgs Production in General 5D Warped Models

We calculate the production rate of the Higgs boson at the LHC in the context of general 5 dimensional (5D) warped scenarios with spacetime background modified from the usual $AdS_5$, and where all the SM fields, including the Higgs, propagate in the bulk. This modification can alleviate considerably the bounds coming from precision electroweak tests and flavor physics. We evaluate the Higgs production rate and show that it is generically consistent with the current experimental results from the LHC for Kaluza-Klein (KK) masses as low as 2 TeV, unlike in pure $AdS_5$ scenarios, where for the same masses, the Higgs production typically receives corrections too large to be consistent with LHC data. Thus the new pressure on warped models arising from LHC Higgs data is also alleviated in $AdS_5$-modified warped scenarios.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Doubly-charged particles at the Large Hadron Collider

In this work we investigate the production and signatures of doubly-charged particles at the Large Hadron Collider. We start with the Standard Model particle content and representations and add generic doubly-charged exotic particles. We classify these doubly-charged states according to their spin, considering scalar, fermionic and vectorial fields, and according to their SU(2)L representation, being chosen to be either trivial, fundamental, or adjoint. We write the most general interactions between them and the Standard Model sector and study their production modes and possible decay channels. We then probe how they can most likely be observed and how particles with different spin and SU(2)L representations could be possibly distinguished.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Chargino and neutralino production at the Large Hadron Collider in left-right supersymmetric models

We present a complete and extensive analysis of associated chargino and neutralino production in the framework of a supersymmetric theory augmented by left-right symmetry. This model provides additional gaugino and higgsino states in both the neutral and charged sectors, thus potentially enhancing new physics signals at the LHC. For a choice of benchmark scenarios, we calculate cross sections for 7, 8 and 14 TeV. We then simulate events expected to be produced at the LHC, and classify them according to the number of leptons in the final state. We devise methods to reduce the background and compare the signals with consistently simulated events for the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We pinpoint promising scenarios where left-right symmetric supersymmetric signals can be distinguished both from background and from the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model events.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Sterile neutrinos in U(1)' with R-parity Violation

Motivated by results from short-baseline neutrino oscillation data, we study neutrino masses and mixing in U(1)' supersymmetric models with R-parity breaking. Whether R-parity is broken spontaneous or through (effective) bilinear terms in the Lagrangian, the breaking terms induce mixing between the neutralinos and neutrinos, creating a scenario in which some neutralinos can be heavy, and some light. Both the right-handed neutrino and the singlino (fermionic partner of the additional singlet Higgs field) can be light, and act as sterile neutrinos, which reconcile some of the anomalies observed in solar baseline and reactor experiments. We show that, scanning a large range of the parameter space satisfying solar and atmospheric neutrino constraints, the mass and mixing parameters of the sterile neutrinos are very restrictive, leading to some predictive features for the U(1)' scenarios.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Vector Leptons in the Higgs Triplet Model

We analyze the phenomenological implications of introducing vector-like leptons on the Higgs sector in the Higgs Triplet Model. We impose only a parity symmetry which disallows mixing between the new states and the ordinary leptons. If the vector leptons are allowed to be relatively light, they enhance or suppress the decay rates of loop-dominated neutral Higgs bosons decays h -> gamma gamma and h -> Z gamma, and affect their correlation. An important consequence is that, for light vector leptons, the decay patterns of the the doubly-charged Higgs boson will be altered, modifying the restrictions on their masses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Higgs Bosons in supersymmetric U(1)' models with CP Violation

We study the Higgs sector of the U(1)'-extended MSSM with CP violation. This is an extension of the MSSM Higgs sector by one singlet field, introduced to generate the μterm dynamically. We are particularly interested in non-standard decays of Higgs particles, especially of the lightest one, in the presence of CP violating phases for μ_{eff} and the soft parameters. We present analytical expressions for neutral and charged Higgs bosons masses at tree and one-loop levels, including contributions from top and bottom scalar quark sectors. We then study the production and decay channels of the neutral Higgs for a set of benchmark points consistent with low energy data and relic density constraints. Numerical simulations show that a Higgs boson lighter than 2m_W can decay in a quite distinctive manner, including invisible modes into two neutralinos (h->χ^0χ^0) up to 50% of the time, when kinematically allowed. The branching ratio into h->bb, the dominant decay in the SM, is reduced in some U(1)' models and enhanced in others, while the branching ratios for the decays h -> τ+ τ-, h -> WW^* and h -> Z Z^*-> 4l are always reduced with respect to their SM expectations. This possibility has important implications for testing the U(1)' model both at the LHC and later at the ILC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Higgs Bosons in Warped Space, from the Bulk to the Brane

In the context of warped extra-dimensional models with all fields propagating in the bulk, we address the phenomenology of a bulk scalar Higgs boson, and calculate its production cross section at the LHC as well as its tree-level effects on mediating flavor changing neutral currents. We perform the calculations based on two different approaches. First, we compute our predictions analytically by considering all the degrees of freedom emerging from the dimensional reduction (the infinite tower of Kaluza Klein modes (KK)). In the second approach, we perform our calculations numerically by considering only the effects caused by the first few KK modes, present in the 4-dimensional effective theory. In the case of a Higgs leaking far from the brane, both approaches give the same predictions as the effects of the heavier KK modes decouple. However, as the Higgs boson is pushed towards the TeV brane, the two approaches seem to be equivalent only when one includes heavier and heavier degrees of freedom (which do not seem to decouple). To reconcile these results it is necessary to introduce a type of higher derivative operator which essentially encodes the effects of integrating out the heavy KK modes and dresses the brane Higgs so that it looks just like a bulk Higgs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Neutral Higgs Bosons in the Higgs Triplet Model with nontrivial mixing

We revisit the neutral Higgs sector of the Higgs Triplet Model, with non-negligible mixing in the CP-even Higgs sector. We examine the possibility that one of the Higgs boson state is the particle observed at the LHC at 125 GeV, and the other is either the small LEP excess at 98 GeV; or the CMS excess at 136 GeV; or that the neutral Higgs bosons are (almost) degenerate and have both mass 125 GeV. We show that, under general considerations, an (unmixed) neutral Higgs boson cannot have an enhanced decay branching ratio into gamma gamma with respect to the Standard Model one. An enhancement is however possible for the mixed case, but only for the heavier of the two neutral Higgs bosons, and not for mass-degenerate Higgs bosons. At the same time the branching ratios into WW^*,ZZ^*, bb and tau tau are similar to the Standard Model, or reduced. We correlate the branching ratios of both Higgs states into Z gamma to those into gamma gamma for the three scenarios. The mixed neutral sector of the Higgs triplet model exhibits some features which could distinguish it from other scenarios at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Saving the fourth generation Higgs with radion mixing

We study Higgs-radion mixing in a warped extra dimensional model with Standard Model fields in the bulk, and we include a fourth generation of chiral fermions. The main problem with the fourth generation is that, in the absence of Higgs-radion mixing, it produces a large enhancement in the Higgs production cross-section, now severely constrained by LHC data. We analyze the production and decay rates of the two physical states emerging from the mixing and confront them with present LHC data. We show that the current signals observed can be compatible with the presence of one, or both, of these Higgs-radion mixed states (the $ϕ$ and the $h$), although with a severely restricted parameter space. In particular, the radion interaction scale must be quite low, Lambda_ϕ~ 1-1.3 TeV. If m_ϕ~ 125 GeV, the $h$ state must be heavier (m_h>320 GeV). If m_h ~ 125 GeV, the $ϕ$ state must be quite light or close in mass (m_ϕ~ 120 GeV). We also present the modified decay branching ratios of the mixed Higgs-radion states, including flavor violating decays into fourth generation quarks and leptons. The windows of allowed parameter space obtained are very sensitive to the increased precision of upcoming LHC data. During the present year, a clear picture of this scenario will emerge, either confirming or further severely constraining this scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Top Quark Pair Production and Asymmetry at the Tevatron and LHC in Left-Right Models

In light of the recent measurements of the top quark forward-backward asymmetry at the Fermilab Tevatron experiment, which in some regions of the parameter space shows a discrepancy of 3$σ$ compared to the SM prediction, we analyze top quark pair production and asymmetry in the context of left-right models both at the Tevatron and LHC. We use the minimal manifest left-right model and an asymmetric left-right model where gauge couplings and flavor mixing in the right-handed sector are allowed to differ from those in the left-handed sector. We explore the consequences of including effects from $W_R$ and $Z_R$ gauge bosons, consistent with phenomenological constraints from meson mixing and new bounds from ATLAS and CMS, for the $t \bar{t}$ cross section, invariant mass distribution and forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron, and predict their values at the LHC. We show that, choosing parameter benchmarks for the model while preserving agreement with collider, electroweak precision, and flavor violation data, the generic left-right model cannot account for the large deviations of the observed asymmetry at the Tevatron and also that it predicts very small charge asymmetries at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Radion Phenomenology with 3 and 4 Generations

We study radion phenomenology in an warped extra-dimension scenario with Standard Model fields in the bulk, with and without an additional fourth family of fermions. The radion couplings with the fermions will be generically misaligned with respect to the Standard Model fermion mass matrices, therefore producing some amount of flavor violating couplings and potentially influencing production and decay rates of the radion. Simple analytic expressions for the radion-fermion couplings are obtained with three or four families. We also update and analyze the current experimental limits on radion couplings and on the model parameters, again with both three and four families scenarios. We finally present the modified decay branching ratios of the radion with an emphasis on the new channels involving flavor diagonal and flavor violating decays into fourth generation quarks and leptons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Higgs Phenomenology in Warped Extra-Dimensions with a 4th Generation

We study a warped extra-dimension scenario where the Standard Model fields lie in the bulk, with the addition of a fourth family of fermions. We concentrate on the flavor structure of the Higgs couplings with fermions in the flavor anarchy ansatz. Even without a fourth family, these couplings will be generically misaligned with respect to the SM fermion mass matrices. The presence of the fourth family typically enhances the misalignment effects and we show that one should expect them to be highly non-symmetrical in the ${(34)}$ inter-generational mixing. The radiative corrections from the new fermions and their flavor violating couplings to the Higgs affect negligibly known experimental precision measurements such as the oblique parameters and $Z\to b {\bar b}$ or $Z \to μ^+ μ^-$. On the other hand, $ΔF=1,2$ processes, mediated by tree-level Higgs exchange, as well as radiative corrections to $b \to s γ$ and $μ\to eγ$ put some generic pressure on the allowed size of the flavor violating couplings. But more importantly, these couplings will alter the Higgs decay patterns as well as those of the new fermions, and produce very interesting new signals associated to Higgs phenomenology in high energy colliders. These might become very important indirect signals for these type of models as they would be present even when the KK mass scale is high and no heavy KK particle is discovered.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Top quark asymmetry and Wjj excess at CDF from gauged flavor symmetry

We show that the scalar sector needed for fermion mass generation when the flavor symmetry of the standard model is maximally gauged can consistently explain two anomalies reported recently by the CDF collaboration - the forward-backward asymmetry in t-tbar pair production, and the dijet invariant mass in the Wjj channel. A pair of nearly degenerate scalar doublets with masses in the range 150-200 GeV explain these anomalies, with additional scalars predicted in the mass range 100-400 GeV. Consistency of such low scale flavor physics with flavor changing processes is shown, and expectations for the LHC are outlined.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Production and Decays of $W_R$ bosons at the LHC

With the advent of the LHC, it is important to devise clear tests for Physics Beyond the Standard Model. Such physics could manifest itself in the form of new charged bosons, whose presence is most naturally occurring in left-right symmetric models (LRSM). We analyze the single $W_R$ boson production in an asymmetric left-right model, where the left and right quark mixing matrices are not constrained to be equal. We investigate the cross sections as well as branching ratios of $W_R$ bosons at the LHC, including constraints from low energy phenomenology. We then look for most likely signals in $pp \to W_R\ t \to t ~(dijet)$ production. Including the background, we find that LHC could show significant signals for the new charged bosons. We compare our results throughout with the manifest left-right symmetric model and comment on similarities and differences.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Higgs Bosons in a minimal R-parity conserving left-right supersymmetric model

We revisit the Higgs sector of the left-right supersymmetric model. We study the scalar potential in a version of the model in which the minimum is the charge conserving vacuum state, without R-parity violation or additional non-renormalizable terms in the Lagrangian. We analyze the dependence of the potential and of the Higgs mass spectrum on the various parameters of the model, pinpointing the most sensitive ones. We also show that, contrary to previous expectations, the model can predict light neutral flavor-conserving Higgs bosons, while the flavor-violating ones are heavy, and within the limits from K0-K0bar, D0-D0bar and B0-B0bar mixings. We study variants of the model in which at least one pair of doubly-charged Higgs bosons is light, and show that the parameter space for such Higgs masses and mixings is very restrictive, thus making the model more predictive.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Scalar Neutrinos at the LHC

We study a softly-broken supersymmetric model whose gauge symmetry is that of the standard model (SM) gauge group times an extra Abelian symmetry U(1)'. We call this gauge-extended model U(1)' model, and we study a U(1)' model with a secluded sector such that neutrinos acquire Dirac masses via higher-dimensional terms allowed by the U(1)' invariance. In this model the mu term of the minimal supersymmetric model (MSSM) is dynamically induced by the vacuum expectation value of a singlet scalar. In addition, the model contains exotic particles necessary for anomaly cancellation, and extra singlet bosons for achieving correct Z'/Z mass hierarchy. The neutrinos are charged under U(1)', and thus, their production and decay channels differ from those in the MSSM in strength and topology. We implement the model into standard packages and perform a detailed analysis of sneutrino production and decay at the Large Hadron Collider, for various mass scenarios, concentrating on three types of signals: (1) 0lep+ MET,(2) 2lep+MET, and (3) 4lep + MET. We compare the results with those of the MSSM whenever possible, and analyze the SM background for each signal. The sneutrino production and decays provide clear signatures enabling distinction of the U(1)' model from the MSSM at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

B Decays in an Asymmetric Left-Right Model

Motivated by recently observed disagreements with the SM predictions in $B$ decays, we study $b \to d, s$ transitions in an asymmetric class of $SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R \times U(1)_{B-L}$ models, with a simple one-parameter structure of the right handed mixing matrix for the quarks, which obeys the constraints from kaon physics. We use experimental constraints on the branching ratios of $b \to s γ$, $b \to c e {\bar ν}_e$, and $B_{d,s}^0 -\bar{B}^0_{d,s}$ mixing to restrict the parameters of the model: $\displaystyle {g_R}/{g_L}, M_{W_2}, M_{H^\pm}, \tan β$ as well as the elements of the right-handed quark mixing matrix $V^R_{CKM}$. We present a comparison with the more commonly used (manifest) left-right symmetric model. Our analysis exposes the parameters most sensitive to $b$ transitions and reveals a large parameter space where left- and right-handed quarks mix differently, opening the possibility of observing marked differences in behaviour between the standard model and the left-right model.

hep-ph↗