arXiv subjects

Matthew R. Buckley

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew R. Buckley.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Thermal Dark Matter from a Confining Sector

We study a class of dark matter models in which the dark matter is a baryon-like composite particle of a confining gauge group and also a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with the breaking of an enhanced chiral symmetry group. The approximate symmetry decouples the dark matter mass from the confinement scale of the new gauge group, leading to correct thermal relic abundances for dark matter masses far below the unitary bound, avoiding the typical conclusion of thermally produced composite dark matter. We explore the available parameter space in a minimal example model based on an SU(2) gauge group, and discuss prospects for experimental detection.

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arXiv2012

Are There Hints of Light Stops in Recent Higgs Search Results?

The recent discovery at the LHC by the CMS and ATLAS collaborations of the Higgs boson presents, at long last, direct probes of the mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking. While it is clear from the observations that the new particle plays some role in this process, it is not yet apparent whether the couplings and widths of the observed particle match those predicted by the Standard Model. In this paper, we perform a global fit of the Higgs results from the LHC and Tevatron. While these results could be subject to as-yet-unknown systematics, we find that the data are significantly better fit by a Higgs with a suppressed width to gluon-gluon and an enhanced width to gamma gamma, relative to the predictions of the Standard Model. After considering a variety of new physics scenarios which could potenially modify these widths, we find that the most promising possibility is the addition of a new colored, charged particle, with a large coupling to the Higgs. Of particular interest is a light, and highly mixed, stop, which we show can provide the required alterations to the combination of gg and gamma gamma widths.

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arXiv2012

Stops and MET: the shape of things to come

LHC experiments have placed strong bounds on the production of supersymmetric colored particles (squarks and gluinos), under the assumption that all flavors of squarks are nearly degenerate. However, the current experimental constraints on stop squarks are much weaker, due to the smaller production cross section and difficult backgrounds. While light stops are motivated by naturalness arguments, it has been suggested that such particles become nearly impossible to detect near the limit where their mass is degenerate with the sum of the masses of their decay products. We show that this is not the case, and that searches based on missing transverse energy (MET) have significant reach for stop masses above 175 GeV, even in the degenerate limit. We consider direct pair production of stops, decaying to invisible LSPs and tops with either hadronic or semi-leptonic final states. Modest intrinsic differences in MET are magnified by boosted kinematics and by shape analyses of MET or suitably-chosen observables related to MET. For these observables we show that the distributions of the relevant backgrounds and signals are well-described by simple analytic functions, in the kinematic regime where signal is enhanced. Shape analyses of MET-related distributions will allow the LHC experiments to place significantly improved bounds on stop squarks, even in scenarios where the stop-LSP mass difference is degenerate with the top mass. Assuming 20/fb of luminosity at 8 TeV, we conservatively estimate that experiments can exclude or discover degenerate stops with mass as large as ~ 360 GeV and 560 GeV for massless LSPs.

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arXiv2012

Implications of a 130 GeV Gamma-Ray Line for Dark Matter

Recent reports of a gamma-ray line feature at ~130 GeV in data from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope have generated a great deal of interest in models in which dark matter particles annihilate with a sizable cross section to final states including photons. In this article, we take a model-independent approach, and discuss a number of possibilities for dark matter candidates which could potentially generate such a feature. While we identify several scenarios which could lead to such a gamma-ray line, these models are each fairly constrained. In particular, viable models require large couplings (g>1-3), and additional charged particles with masses in the range of approximately ~130-200 GeV. Furthermore, lower energy gamma-ray constraints from the Galactic Center force us to consider scenarios in which the dark matter annihilates in the early universe through velocity-suppressed processes, or to final states which yield relatively few gamma-rays (such as electrons, muons or neutrinos). An exception to these conclusions can be found in models in which the dark matter annihilates to heavy intermediate states which decay to photons to generate a line-like gamma-ray spectrum.

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arXiv2012

Precision Probes of a Leptophobic Z' Boson

Extensions of the Standard Model that contain leptophobic Z' gauge bosons are theoretically interesting but difficult to probe directly in high-energy hadron colliders. However, precision measurements of Standard Model neutral current processes can provide powerful indirect tests. We demonstrate that parity-violating deep inelastic scattering of polarized electrons off of deuterium offer a unique probe leptophobic Z' bosons with axial quark couplings and masses above 100 GeV. In addition to covering a wide range of previously uncharted parameter space, planned measurements of the deep inelastic parity-violating eD asymmetry would be capable of testing leptophobic Z' scenarios proposed to explain the CDF W plus di-jet anomaly.

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arXiv2011

Searching For Dark Matter Subhalos In the Fermi-LAT Second Source Catalog

The dark matter halo of the Milky Way is expected to contain an abundance of smaller subhalos. These subhalos can be dense and produce potentially observable fluxes of gamma rays. In this paper, we search for dark matter subhalo candidates among the sources in the Fermi-LAT Second Source Catalog which are not currently identified or associated with counterparts at other wavelengths. Of the nine high-significance, high-latitude (|b|>60 degrees), non-variable, unidentified sources contained in this catalog, only one or two are compatible with the spectrum of a dark matter particle heavier than approximately 50-100 GeV. The majority of these nine sources, however, feature a spectrum that is compatible with that predicted from a lighter (~5-40 GeV) dark matter particle. This population is consistent with the number of observable subhalos predicted for a dark matter candidate in this mass range and with an annihilation cross section of a simple thermal relic (sigma v~3x10^{-26} cm^3/s). Observations in the direction of these sources at other wavelengths will be necessary to either reveal their astrophysical nature (as blazars or other active galactic nuclei, for example), or to further support the possibility that they are dark matter subhalos by failing to detect any non-gamma ray counterpart.

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arXiv2011

Toward A Consistent Picture For CRESST, CoGeNT and DAMA

Three dark matter direct detection experiments (DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II) have each reported signals which are not consistent with known backgrounds, but resemble that predicted for a dark matter particle with a mass of roughly $\sim$10 GeV and an elastic scattering cross section with nucleons of $\sim$$10^{-41}$--$10^{-40}$ cm$^2$. In this article, we compare the signals of these experiments and discuss whether they can be explained by a single species of dark matter particle, without conflicting with the constraints of other experiments. We find that the spectrum of events reported by CoGeNT and CRESST-II are consistent with each other and with the constraints from CDMS-II, although some tension with xenon-based experiments remains. Similarly, the modulation signals reported by DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT appear to be compatible, although the corresponding amplitude of the observed modulations are a factor of at least a few higher than would be naively expected, based on the event spectra reported by CoGeNT and CRESST-II. This apparent discrepancy could potentially be resolved if tidal streams or other non-Maxwellian structures are present in the local distribution of dark matter.

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arXiv2011

What the Tevatron Found?

The CDF collaboration has reported a 4.1σ excess in their lepton, missing energy, and dijets channel. This excess, which takes the form of an approximately Gaussian peak centered at a dijet invariant mass of 147 GeV, has provoked a great deal of experimental and theoretical interest. Although the DØ collaboration has reported that they do not observe a signal consistent with CDF, there is currently no widely accepted explanation for the discrepancy between these two experiments. A resolution of this issue is of great importance---not least because it may teach us lessons relevant for future searches at the LHC---and it will clearly require additional information. In this paper, we consider the ability of the Tevatron and LHC detectors to observe evidence associated with the CDF excess in a variety of channels. We also discuss the ability of selected kinematic distributions to distinguish between Standard Model explanations of the observed excess and various new physics scenarios.

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arXiv2011

Light Z' Bosons at the Tevatron

New gauge bosons with Standard Model-like couplings to leptons are constrained by collider searches to be heavier than approximately ~1 TeV. A Z' boson with suppressed couplings to leptons, however, could be much lighter and possess substantial couplings to Standard Model quarks. In this article, we consider a new leptophobic Z' gauge boson as a simple and well motivated extension of the Standard Model, and discuss several of its possible signatures at the Tevatron. We find that three of the recent anomalies reported from the Tevatron - in particular the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry and excesses in the 3b and W + 2 jets final states - could be explained by a new Z' with a mass of approximately 150 GeV, relatively large couplings to quarks, and suppressed couplings to electrons and muons. Moreover, we find that such a particle could also mediate the interactions of dark matter, leading to potentially interesting implications for direct detection experiments.

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arXiv2011

A Leptophobic Z' And Dark Matter From Grand Unification

We explore the phenomenology of Grand Unified Models based on the E_6 group, focusing on the Z' with suppressed couplings to leptons that can appear in such models. We find that this Z' can accommodate the W+dijets anomaly reported by the CDF collaboration. Furthermore, a viable dark matter candidate in the form of a right-handed sneutrino is also present within the fundamental 27-dimensional representation of E_6. Through its sizable couplings to the Z', the dark matter is predicted to possess an elastic scattering cross section with neutrons which can generate the signals reported by the CoGeNT and DAMA/LIBRA collaborations. To avoid being overproduced in the early universe, the dark matter must annihilate to leptons through the exchange of charged or neutral fermions which appear in the 27 of E_6, providing an excellent fit to the gamma ray spectrum observed from the Galactic Center by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope.

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arXiv2011

Asymmetric Dark Matter and Effective Operators

In order to annihilate in the early Universe to levels well below the measured dark matter density, asymmetric dark matter must possess large couplings to the Standard Model. In this paper, we consider effective operators which allow asymmetric dark matter to annihilate into quarks. In addition to a bound from requiring sufficient annihilation, the energy scale of such operators can be constrained by limits from direct detection and monojet searches at colliders. We show that the allowed parameter space for these operators is highly constrained, leading to non-trivial requirements that any model of asymmetric dark matter must satisfy.

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arXiv2011

Regenerating a Symmetry in Asymmetric Dark Matter

Asymmetric dark matter theories generically allow for mass terms that lead to particle-antiparticle mixing. Over the age of the Universe, dark matter can thus oscillate from a purely asymmetric configuration into a symmetric mix of particles and antiparticles, allowing for pair-annihilation processes. Additionally, requiring efficient depletion of the primordial thermal (symmetric) component generically entails large annihilation rates. We show that unless some symmetry completely forbids dark matter particle-antiparticle mixing, asymmetric dark matter is effectively ruled out for a large range of masses, for almost any oscillation time-scale shorter than the age of the Universe.

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arXiv2011

Diagnosing Spin at the LHC via Vector Boson Fusion

We propose a new technique for determining the spin of new massive particles that might be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider. The method relies on pair-production of the new particles in a kinematic regime where the vector boson fusion production mechanism is enhanced. For this regime, we show that the distribution of the leading jets as a function of their relative azimuthal angle can be used to distinguish spin-0 from spin-1/2 particles. We illustrate this effect by considering the particular cases of (i) strongly-interacting, stable particles and (ii) supersymmetric particles carrying color charge. We argue that this method should be applicable in a wide range of new physics scenarios.

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arXiv2011

Stable Colored Particles R-SUSY Relics or Not?

R-hadrons are only one of many possible stable colored states that the LHC might produce. All such particles would provide a spectacular, if somewhat unusual, signal at ATLAS and CMS. Produced in large numbers and leaving a characteristic signature throughout all layers of the detector, including the muon chamber, they could be straightforward to discover even with low luminosity. Though such long lived colored particles (LLCPs) can be realized in many extensions of the Standard Model, most analyses of their phenomenology have focused only on R-hadrons. In order to distinguish among the possibilities, fundamental quantum numbers of the new states must be measured. In this paper, we demonstrate how to identify the $SU(3)_C$ charge and spin of such new particles at the LHC.

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arXiv2011

Xogenesis

We present a new paradigm for dark matter in which a dark matter asymmetry is established in the early universe that is then transferred to ordinary matter. We show this scenario can fit naturally into weak scale physics models, with a dark matter candidate mass of this order. We present several natural suppression mechanisms, including bleeding dark matter number density into lepton number, which occurs naturally in models with lepton-violating operators transferring the asymmetry.

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arXiv2010

Particle Physics Implications for CoGeNT, DAMA, and Fermi

Recent results from the CoGeNT collaboration (as well as the annual modulation reported by DAMA/LIBRA) point toward dark matter with a light (5-10 GeV) mass and a relatively large elastic scattering cross section with nucleons (σ~ 10^{-40} cm^2). In order to possess this cross section, the dark matter must communicate with the Standard Model through mediating particles with small masses and/or large couplings. In this Letter, we explore with a model independent approach the particle physics scenarios that could potentially accommodate these signals. We also discuss how such models could produce the gamma rays from the Galactic Center observed in the data of the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. We find multiple particle physics scenarios in which each of these signals can be accounted for, and in which the dark matter can be produced thermally in the early Universe with an abundance equal to the measured cosmological density.

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arXiv2010

Dark Matter Subhalos In the Fermi First Source Catalog

The Milky Way's dark matter halo is thought to contain large numbers of smaller subhalos. These objects can contain very high densities of dark matter, and produce potentially observable fluxes of gamma rays. In this article, we study the gamma ray sources in the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope's recently published First Source Catalog, and attempt to determine whether this catalog might contain a population of dark matter subhalos. We find that, while approximately 20-60 of the catalog's unidentified sources could plausibly be dark matter subhalos, such a population cannot be clearly identified as such at this time. From the properties of the sources in the First Source Catalog, we derive limits on the dark matter's annihilation cross section that are comparably stringent to those derived from recent observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

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arXiv2010

Cascade Events at IceCube+DeepCore as a Definitive Constraint on the Dark Matter Interpretation of the PAMELA and Fermi Anomalies

Dark matter decaying or annihilating into mu+mu- or tau+tau- has been proposed as an explanation for the e+e- anomalies reported by PAMELA and Fermi. Recent analyses show that IceCube, supplemented by DeepCore, will be able to significantly constrain the parameter space of decays to mu+mu-, and rule out decays to tau+tau- and annihilations to mu+mu- in less than five years of running. These analyses rely on measuring track-like events in IceCube+DeepCore from down-going nu_mu. In this paper we show that by instead measuring cascade events, which are induced by all neutrino flavors, IceCube+DeepCore can rule out decays to mu+mu- in only three years of running, and rule out decays to tau+tau- and annihilation to mu+mu- in only one year of running. These constraints are highly robust to the choice of dark matter halo profile and independent of dark matter-nucleon cross-section.

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