arXiv subjects

Michael Klasen

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Klasen.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

A decaying neutralino as dark matter and its gamma ray spectrum

It is shown that a decaying neutralino in a supergravity unified framework is a viable candidate for dark matter. Such a situation arises in the presence of a hidden sector with ultraweak couplings to the visible sector where the neutralino can decay into the hidden sector's lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) with a lifetime larger than the lifetime of the universe. We present a concrete model where the MSSM/SUGRA is extended to include a hidden sector comprised of $U(1)_{X_1} \times U(1)_{X_2}$ gauge sector and the LSP of the hidden sector is a neutralino which is lighter than the LSP neutralino of the visible sector. We compute the loop suppressed radiative decay of the visible sector neutralino into the neutralino of the hidden sector and show that the decay can occur with a lifetime larger than the age of the universe. The decaying neutralino can be probed by indirect detection experiments, specifically by its signature decay into the hidden sector neutralino and an energetic gamma ray photon. Such a gamma ray can be searched for with improved sensitivity at Fermi-LAT and by future experiments such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). We present several benchmarks which have a natural suppression of the hadronic channels from dark matter annihilation and decays and consistent with measurements of the antiproton background.

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arXiv2021

Dark matter implications of the KATRIN neutrino mass experiment

We studied the effects of the absolute neutrino mass scale in the scotogenic radiative seesaw model. From a scan over the parameter space of this model, a linear relation between the absolute neutrino mass and the dark sector-Higgs coupling $λ_5= 3.1\times10^{-9}\ m_{ν_e}/$eV has been established. With the projected sensitivity of the KATRIN experiment nearing cosmologically favored values, a neutrino mass measurement would fix the value of $λ_5$. Subsequent correlations between the DM mass and the Yukawa coupling between DM and the SM leptons can probe the fermion DM parameter space, when lepton flavor violation constraints are also considered. The results are independent of the neutrino mass hierarchy and the CP phase.

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arXiv2021

Slepton and Electroweakino pair production with aNNLO+NNLL precision

The level of experimental precision that will be achieved with LHC Run-III data and in the forthcoming High Luminosity stage calls for equally accurate theoretical predictions to compare with. Here we present updated cross section calculations for the electroweak production of SUSY particles at the LHC with aNNLO+NNLL (approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order plus next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic) accuracy. Results are shown for slepton pair production and for electroweakinos pair production in their mostly higgsino or gaugino configuration, finding a further significant reduction of the factorisation and renormalisation scale dependence that stabilises the predictions to the permil level.

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arXiv2021

Xenon-1T excess as a possible signal of a sub-GeV hidden sector dark matter

We present a particle physics model to explain the observed enhancement in the Xenon-1T data at an electron recoil energy of 2.5 keV. The model is based on a $U(1)$ extension of the Standard Model where the dark sector consists of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions in the sub-GeV region with a small mass splitting interacting with a dark photon. The dark photon is unstable and decays before the big bang nucleosynthesis, which leads to the dark matter constituted of two essentially mass degenerate Dirac fermions. The Xenon-1T excess is computed via the inelastic exothermic scattering of the heavier dark fermion from a bound electron in xenon to the lighter dark fermion producing the observed excess events in the recoil electron energy. The model can be tested with further data from Xenon-1T and in future experiments such as SuperCDMS.

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arXiv2020

Electroweak $t \bar t$ hadroproduction in the presence of heavy $Z'$ and $W'$ bosons at NLO QCD in POWHEG

We extend and improve upon our previous calculation of electroweak top-quark pair hadroproduction in extensions of the Standard Model with extra heavy neutral and charged spin-1 resonances. In particular, we allow for flavour-non-diagonal $Z'$ couplings and take into account non-resonant production in the SM and beyond including the contributions with $t$-channel $W$ and $W'$ bosons. All amplitudes are generated using the Recola2 package. As in our previous work, we include NLO QCD corrections and consistently match to parton showers with the POWHEG method fully taking into account the interference effects between SM and new physics amplitudes. We consider the Sequential Standard Model, the Topcolour model, as well as the Third Family Hypercharge Model featuring non-flavour-diagonal $Z'$ couplings which has been proposed recently to explain the anomalies in $B$ decays. We present numerical results for $t \bar t$ cross sections at hadron colliders with a centre-of-mass energy up to 100 TeV.

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arXiv2020

MeV neutrino dark matter in the SLIM model

We explore the parameter space of a variant of the SLIM model, which extends the SM with a singlet and a doublet of complex scalars and two generations of right-handed neutrinos, the lightest of which has a mass in the MeV to GeV region and plays the role of Dark Matter candidate. We impose the current collider and astrophysical constrains, as well as bounds from Lepton Flavour Violating experiments. We also consider the discovery potential in the XENON experiment exploiting the electron recoil as a possible direct detection signal. Despite the DM in this model being leptophilic, the predicted cross sections are too low due to the heavy charged mediator.

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arXiv2020

Resummation effects in weak SUSY processes

We present updated results for the production cross sections of slepton pairs and neutralino-chargino pairs at the LHC with next-to-next-to logarithmic precision matched at approximate QCD next-to-next-to leading order. The explored range of masses of the supersymmetric particles are chosen to be relevant for current and future searches at the LHC. We find moderate increases in the invariant mass distributions and integrated cross sections, and substantial reductions in the scale uncertainty of the results.

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arXiv2020

Discovering heavy U(1)-gauged Higgs bosons at the HL-LHC

We determine the discovery potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at 13 TeV center-of-mass energy for a heavy scalar resonance in the dilepton channel. In particular, we consider the singlet-like heavy mass eigenstate of a mixed two Higgs doublet and scalar singlet model in the $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the Standard Model. We find that, despite the small coupling of the singlet scalar with the doublets, this heavy scalar can be discovered with 5$σ$ at the LHC with integrated luminosities of $\sim 300$ to $1400$ fb$^{-1}$ in the mass range between 500 GeV and 1 TeV.

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arXiv2019

Singlet-doublet/triplet dark matter and neutrino masses

In these proceedings, we present a study of a combined singlet--doublet fermion and triplet scalar model for dark matter (DM). Together, these models form a simple extension of the Standard Model (SM) that can account for DM and explain the existence of neutrino masses, which are generated radiatively. However, this also implies the existence of lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes. In addition, this particular model allows for gauge coupling unification. The new fields are odd under a new $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry to stabilise the DM candidate. We analyse the DM, neutrino mass and LFV aspects, exploring the viable parameter space of the model. This is done using a numerical random scan imposing successively the neutrino mass and mixing, relic density, Higgs mass, direct detection, collider and LFV constraints. We find that DM in this model is fermionic for masses below about 1 TeV and scalar above. We observe a high degree of complementarity between direct detection and LFV experiments, which should soon allow to fully probe the fermionic DM sector and at least partially the scalar DM sector.

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arXiv2019

Singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar dark matter with radiative neutrino masses

We present a detailed study of a combined singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar model for dark matter. These models have only been studied separately in the past. Together, they form a simple extension of the Standard Model that can account for dark matter and explain the existence of neutrino masses, which are generated radiatively. This holds even if singlet-doublet fermions and triplet scalars never contribute simultaneously to the dark matter abundance. However, this also implies the existence of lepton flavour violating processes. In addition, this particular model allows for gauge coupling unification. The new fields are odd under a new $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry to stabilise the dark matter candidate. We analyse the dark matter, neutrino mass and lepton flavour violation aspects both separately and in conjunction, exploring the viable parameter space of the model. This is done using a numerical random scan imposing successively the neutrino mass and mixing, relic density, Higgs mass, direct detection, collider and lepton flavour violation constraints. We find that dark matter in this model is fermionic for masses below about 1 TeV and scalar above. The narrow mass regions found previously for the two separate models are enlarged by their coupling. While coannihilations of the weak isospin partners are sizeable, this is not the case for fermions and scalars despite their often similar masses due to the relatively small coupling of the two sectors, imposed by the small neutrino masses. We observe a high degree of complementarity between direct detection and lepton flavour violation experiments, which should soon allow to fully probe the fermionic dark matter sector and at least partially the scalar dark matter sector.

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arXiv2018

PHOTON-2017 conference proceedings

This document collects the proceedings of the PHOTON 2017 conference ("International Conference on the Structure and the Interactions of the Photon", including the 22th "International Workshop on Photon-Photon Collisions", and the "International Workshop on High Energy Photon Colliders") held at CERN (Geneva) in May 2017. The latest experimental and theoretical developments on the topics of the PHOTON conference series are covered: (i) $γ\,γ$ processes in e$^+$e$^-$, proton-proton (pp) and nucleus-nucleus (AA) collisions at current and future colliders, (ii) $γ$-hadron interactions in e$^\pm$p, pp, and AA collisions, (iii) final-state photon production (including Standard Model studies and searches beyond it) in pp and AA collisions, and (iv) high-energy $γ$-ray astrophysics. These proceedings are dedicated to the memory of Maria Krawczyk.

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arXiv2018

Constraining PDFs from neutral current Drell-Yan measurements and effects of resummation in slepton pair production

The high statistics that will be collected during the LHC Run-II (and beyond) open the path to precision measurements at the TeV scale, where the PDFs will play a crucial role in BSM searches. In the di-lepton final state accurate measurements of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry (AFB) will be available, particularly in the invariant mass region around the Z peak. We show that this observable displays a statistical error which is competitive with that assigned to the existing PDF sets and which will rapidly become smaller than the latter as the integrated luminosity grows, thereby offering a means of constraining the (anti)quark PDFs over a sizeable $(x,Q^2)$ range. In the context of SUSY searches we consider the effects of employing threshold-improved PDFs in a consistent calculation at NLO+NLL of slepton pair production cross sections. The calculations featuring a consistent resummation procedure both at PDF and partonic matrix element level are accompanied by PDF and scale uncertainties, and they provide a reliable and updated theoretical estimation for experimental data analyses at the LHC Run-II.

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arXiv2018

Realistic simplified gaugino-higgsino models in the MSSM

We present simplified MSSM models for light neutralinos and charginos with realistic mass spectra and realistic gaugino-higgsino mixing, that can be used in experimental searches at the LHC. The formerly used naive approach of defining mass spectra and mixing matrix elements manually and independently of each other does not yield genuine MSSM benchmarks. We suggest the use of less simplified, but realistic MSSM models, whose mass spectra and mixing matrix elements are the result of a proper matrix diagonalisation. We propose a novel strategy targeting the design of such benchmark scenarios, accounting for user-defined constraints in terms of masses and particle mixing. We apply it to the higgsino case and implement a scan in the four relevant underlying parameters {μ, tanβ, M_1, M_2} for a given set of light neutralino and chargino masses. We define a measure for the quality of the obtained benchmarks, that also includes criteria to assess the higgsino content of the resulting charginos and neutralinos. We finally discuss the distribution of the resulting models in the MSSM parameter space as well as their implications for supersymmetric dark matter phenomenology.

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arXiv2016

Predicting the neutralino relic density in the MSSM more precisely

The dark matter relic density being a powerful observable to constrain models of new physics, the recent experimental progress calls for more precise theoretical predictions. On the particle physics side, improvements are to be made in the calculation of the (co)annihilation cross-section of the dark matter particle. We present the project DM@NLO which aims at calculating the neutralino (co)annihilation cross-section in the MSSM including radiative corrections in QCD. In the present document, we briefly review selected results for different (co)annihilation processes. We then discuss the estimation of the associated theory uncertainty obtained by varying the renormalization scale. Finally, perspectives are discussed.

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arXiv2016

SUSY-QCD corrections for the direct detection of neutralino dark matter and correlations with the relic density

In this paper, we perform a full next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD calculation of neutralino scattering on protons or neutrons in the MSSM. We match the results of the NLO QCD calculation to the scalar and axial-vector operators in the effective field theory approach. These govern the spin-independent and spin-dependent detection rates, respectively. The calculations have been performed for general bino, wino and higgsino decompositions of neutralino dark matter and required a novel tensor reduction method of loop integrals with vanishing relative velocities and Gram determinants. Numerically, the NLO QCD effects are shown to be of at least of similar size and sometimes larger than the currently estimated nuclear uncertainties. We also demonstrate the interplay of the direct detection rate with the relic density when consistently analyzed with the program $\mathtt{DM@NLO}$.

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arXiv2016

NLO+NLL Collider Bounds, Dirac Fermion and Scalar Dark Matter in the B-L Model

Baryon and lepton numbers being accidental global symmetries of the Standard Model (SM), it is natural to promote them to local symmetries. However, to preserve anomaly freedom, only combinations of B-L are viable. In this spirit, we investigate possible dark matter realizations in the context of the $U(1)_{B-L}$ model: (i) Dirac fermion with unbroken B-L; (ii) Dirac fermion with broken B-L; (iii) scalar dark matter; (iv) two component dark matter. We compute the relic abundance, direct and indirect detection observables and confront them with recent results from Planck, LUX-2016, and Fermi-LAT and prospects from XENON1T. In addition to the well known LEP bound $M_{Z^{\prime}}/g_{BL} \gtrsim 7$ TeV, we include often ignored LHC bounds using 13 TeV dilepton (dimuon+dielectron) data at next-to-leading order plus next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. We show that, for gauge couplings smaller than $0.4$, the LHC gives rise to the strongest collider limit. In particular, we find $M_{Z^{\prime}}/g_{BL} > 8.7$ TeV for $g_{BL}=0.3$. We conclude that the NLO+NLL corrections improve the dilepton bounds on the $Z^{\prime}$ mass and that both dark matter candidates are only viable in the $Z^{\prime}$ resonance region, with the parameter space for scalar dark matter being fully probed by XENON1T. Lastly, we show that one can successfully have a minimal two component dark matter model.

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arXiv2016

Lepton flavor violation and scalar dark matter in a radiative model of neutrino masses

We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model that can account for the dark matter and explain the existence of neutrino masses. The model includes a vector-like doublet of SU(2), a singlet fermion, and two scalar singlets, all of them odd under a new Z$_2$ symmetry. Neutrino masses are generated radiatively by one-loop processes involving the new fields, while the dark matter candidate is the lightest neutral particle among them. We focus specifically on the case where the dark matter particle is one of the scalars and its relic density is determined by its Yukawa interactions. The phenomenology of this setup, including neutrino masses, dark matter and lepton flavor violation, is analyzed in some detail. We find that the dark matter mass must be below $500$ GeV to satisfy the relic density constraint. Lepton flavor violating processes are shown to provide the most promising way to test this scenario. Future $μ\to 3e$ and $μ$-$e$ conversion experiments, in particular, have the potential to probe the entire viable parameter space of this model.

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arXiv2015

Interplay of gaugino (co)annihilation processes in the context of a precise relic density calculation

The latest Planck data allow one to determine the dark matter relic density with previously unparalleled precision. In order to achieve a comparable precision on the theory side, we have calculated the full $\mathcal{O}(α_s)$ corrections to the most relevant annihilation and coannihilation processes for relic density calculations within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The interplay of these processes is discussed. The impact of the radiative corrections on the resulting relic density is found to be larger than the experimental uncertainty of the Planck data.

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