arXiv subjects

Navin McGinnis

Publications and source records attributed to Navin McGinnis.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Combined signatures of heavy Higgses and vectorlike fermions at the HL-LHC

In extensions of two Higgs doublet models with vectorlike quarks and leptons the decays of new scalars or fermions can be altered by the presence of the other, depending on the hierarchy of new physics. If new fermions are heavier than Higgses, their decays may be dominated by cascade decays through charged and neutral heavy Higgs bosons. In the opposite hierarchy, the decay of a heavy Higgs can lead to single production of vectorlike quarks and leptons when Yukawa couplings to SM fermions are present. We explore the resulting novel collider signatures in either case and present projected sensitivities of future runs of the LHC to the masses and branching ratios of new fermions and heavy Higgses. Importantly, we discuss kinematic challenges of the signatures and suggest strategic observables which could be adopted in future analyses. Interpreting the prospective reach of the LHC in the context of a type-II 2HDM, we find that in the presence of vectorlike fermions heavy Higgs boson masses slightly above 2 TeV can be explored at the HL-LHC even at low $\tanβ$. For heavy Higgs decays through vectorlike leptons, this reach extends to slightly above 3 TeV for $\tanβ\gtrsim 10$. Further, these search strategies imply a reach for vectorlike quark and lepton masses close to 2.4 TeV and 1.5 TeV, respectively. This article is partly based on Refs. [1-6]

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arXiv2021

Lorentz violation in Dirac and Weyl semimetals

We propose a correspondence between the description of emergent Lorentz symmetry in condensed-matter systems and the established general effective field theory for Lorentz violation in fundamental theories of spacetime and matter. This correspondence has potential implications in both directions. We illustrate the proposal by investigating its consequences for the spectral and transport properties of Dirac and Weyl semimetals. Particular realizations of this framework give rise to Dirac nodal spectra with nodal lines and rings. We demonstrate a bulk-boundary correspondence between bulk topological invariants and drumhead surface states of these Dirac nodal semimetals. We calculate their transport coefficients in leading-order perturbation theory, thereby characterizing the unconventional electromagnetic response due to small deviations from emergent Lorentz invariance. Some prospective future applications of the correspondence are outlined.

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arXiv2021

Di-Higgs and tri-Higgs boson signals of muon $g-2$ at a muon collider

We show that new physics explanations of the muon $g-2$ anomaly by the contributions of new leptons mediated by the standard model Higgs boson necessarily lead to large rates for $μ^+ μ^- \to hh$ and $μ^+ μ^- \to hhh$ irrespectively of details of the model or the scale of new physics. For new leptons with the same quantum numbers as the standard model leptons, cross sections are expected to be about 240 ab for $μ^+ μ^- \to hh$ independently of the center of mass energy, $\sqrt{s}$, and about 2.7 ab for $μ^+ μ^- \to hhh$ for $\sqrt{s} = 1$ TeV and growing quadratically with $\sqrt{s}$. Predictions for models featuring new leptons with different quantum numbers and for a type-II two Higgs doublet model, where additional Higgs bosons can contribute to muon $g-2$, are also presented.

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arXiv2021

Muon $g-2$ in two Higgs doublet models with vectorlike leptons

We calculate contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon from heavy neutral and charged Higgs bosons and new leptons in two Higgs doublet models extended by vectorlike leptons. We present detailed predictions of two models with type-II couplings to standard model fermions, motivated by a $Z_2$ symmetry and supersymmetry. In addition, we compare the results with the standard model extended by vectorlike leptons. We find that the model motivated by a $Z_{2}$ symmetry can generate much larger contributions to the magnetic moment compared to the standard model, even by two orders of magnitude due to $\tan^{2}β$ enhancement, while satisfying current constraints. As a consequence, the standard model explanation of the anomaly requires much larger corrections to muon couplings making this model easier to probe at future precision machines. Additionally, we find that the model with couplings motivated by supersymmetry typically leads to much smaller contributions to the anomaly as a result of cancellations. However, we identify interesting scenarios where contributions from the charged Higgs boson can fully explain the anomaly.

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arXiv2021

Tau-jet signatures of vectorlike quark decays to heavy charged and neutral Higgs bosons

We study $4b+2τ$ and $4b+1τ$ signatures of heavy neutral and charged Higgs bosons originating from cascade decays of pair-produced new quarks. Decays of vectorlike quarks through heavy Higgses can easily dominate in the two Higgs doublet model of type-II, and the studied signatures are common to many possible decay chains. We design search strategies for these final states and discuss the mass ranges of heavy Higgs bosons and new quarks that can be explored at the Large Hadron Collider as functions of branching ratios in a model independent way. We further combine the results with a similar study focusing on decays which lead to a $6b$ final state and interpret the sensitivity to charged and neutral Higgs bosons and vectorlike quarks in the type-II two Higgs doublet model. We find that the LHC reach for their masses extends to well above 2 TeV in the case of an SU(2) doublet quark and to at least 1.8 TeV for a bottom-like SU(2) singlet quark in the whole range of $\tanβ$ between 1 and 50.

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arXiv2021

Challenges for a QCD Axion at the 10 MeV Scale

We report on an interesting realization of the QCD axion, with mass in the range $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV. It has previously been shown that although this scenario is stringently constrained from multiple sources, the model remains viable for a range of parameters that leads to an explanation of the Atomki experiment anomaly. In this article we study in more detail the additional constraints proceeding from recent low energy experiments and study the compatibility of the allowed parameter space with the one leading to consistency of the most recent measurements of the electron anomalous magnetic moment and the fine structure constant. We further provide an ultraviolet completion of this axion variant and show the conditions under which it may lead to the observed quark masses and CKM mixing angles, and remain consistent with experimental constraints on the extended scalar sector appearing in this Standard Model extension. In particular, the decay of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson into two light axions may be relevant and leads to a novel Higgs boson signature that may be searched for at the LHC in the near future.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Highly enhanced contributions of heavy Higgs bosons and new leptons to muon $g-2$ and prospects at future colliders

We show that in a two Higgs doublet model type-II extended by vectorlike leptons the contributions from heavy neutral and charged Higgs bosons to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon simultaneously feature chiral enhancement from masses of new leptons and $\tan^2 β$ enhancement from couplings of Higgs bosons. Assuming moderate values of new Yukawa couplings, not exceeding one, that can remain perturbative to very high energy scales, the measured value of muon $g-2$ can be explained within one standard deviation even with 6.5 TeV leptons or 20 TeV Higgs bosons. Allowing new couplings near the perturbativity limit, these mass ranges extend to 45 TeV for leptons and 190 TeV for Higgs bosons. In spite of the high scale of new physics this scenario can be completely probed at planned future colliders.

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arXiv2020

The Scale of Superpartner Masses and Electroweakino Searches at the High-Luminosity LHC

Searches for weakly interacting particles is one of the main goals of the high luminosity LHC run. In this work we study the well motivated cases of electroweakinos with mostly Wino and Bino components. We show the relevance of squark induced t-channel production in defining the production cross section and hence the LHC reach. Moreover, a realistic evaluation of the decay branching ratios show a strong dependence on the sign of $μ$ and, for negative values of $μ$, on the relative size of the ratio of $μ$ to the gaugino masses compared with tan$β$. Overall, unless it is kinematically suppressed, or specific conditions are fulfilled, the Higgs decay channel is the most significant one, and the trilepton channel becomes subdominant with respect to final states including bottom quarks. Although the properties are different than in the Higgsino-Bino case, also in this case the discovery reach extends to mass values that are significantly larger than the ones probed at current luminosities, leading to a strong motivation for the search for electroweakinos in the high luminosity LHC run.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Charged and neutral Higgs bosons in final states with six bottom quarks

In extensions of two Higgs doublet models with vectorlike quarks, the decays of vectorlike quarks may be easily dominated by cascade decays through charged or neutral Higgs bosons leading to signatures with 6 top or bottom quarks. Since top quark decays also contain bottom quarks, the 6 bottom quarks in final states is a common signature to a large class of possible decay chains. We present a search strategy focusing on this final state and find the mass ranges of vectorlike quarks and Higgs bosons that can be explored at the Large Hadron Collider. Among other results the sensitivity to the charged Higgs boson, extending above 2 TeV, stands out when compared to models without vectorlike matter.

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arXiv2020

Searching for the Higgsino-Bino Sector at the LHC

We study the search for electroweakinos at the 13 TeV LHC in the case of heavy scalar superpartners. We consider both the direct production mode and the one associated with the decay of heavy Higgs bosons, and concentrate on the case of light Higgsinos and Binos. In this case, the direct production searches becomes more challenging than in the light Wino scenario. In the direct production mode, we use the current experimental searches to set the reach for these particles at larger luminosities, and we emphasize the relevance of considering both the neutral gauge boson and the neutral Higgs decay modes of the second and third lightest neutralino. We show the complementarity of these searches with the ones induced by the decay of the heavy Higgs bosons, which are dominated by the associated production of the lightest neutralino with the second and third lightest ones, with the latter decaying into gauge bosons. We show that, depending on the value of $\tanβ$, the Higgs boson decay channel remains competitive with the direct production channel up to heavy Higgs boson masses of about 1 TeV. Moreover, this search is not limited by the same kinematic considerations as the ones in the direct production mode and can cover masses up to the kinematic threshold for the decay of the heavier electroweakinos into the lightest neutralino. This decay mode provides also an alternative way of looking for heavy Higgs bosons in this range of masses and hence should be a high priority for future LHC analyses.

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arXiv2020

Signals with six bottom quarks for charged and neutral Higgs bosons

In extensions of two Higgs doublet models with vectorlike quarks, the decays of vectorlike quarks may easily be dominated by cascade decays through charged or neutral Higgs bosons leading to signatures with 6 top or bottom quarks. Since top quark decays also contain bottom quarks, a common signature for many possible decay chains is 6 bottom quarks in the final state. We present a search strategy focusing on this final state and find the mass ranges of vectorlike quarks and Higgs bosons that can be explored at the Large Hadron Collider. Among other results, the sensitivity to the charged and neutral Higgs bosons, extending to about 2 TeV, stands out when compared to models without vectorlike matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

A Light Scalar Explanation of $(g-2)_μ$ and the KOTO Anomaly

The KOTO experiment has recently performed a search for neutral Kaons decaying into neutral pions and a pair of neutrinos. Three events were observed in the KOTO signal region, with an expected background of about 0.05. Since no clear signal of systematic errors have been found, the excess of events in the decay $K_{L}\rightarrowπ^0ν\barν$ is quite intriguing. One possibility to explain this anomaly would be the presence of a scalar $ϕ$ with mass of the order of the pion mass and inducing decays $K_L \to π^0 ϕ$ which mimic the observed signal.A scalar with mass of the order of the pion mass and a coupling to muons of the order of the Standard Model Higgs coupling could also explain the muon anomalous magnetic moment anomaly $(g-2)_μ$. We built on these facts to show that a light singlet scalar with couplings to the leptons and quarks as the ones induced by mixing with Higgs states in two Higgs doublet models may lead to an explanation of both anomalies. More specifically, we show that this is the case in the so-called type-X models in which leptons and quarks couple to two different Higgs doublets, and for scalar masses that are in the range between 40 and 70 MeV. Due to the relatively large coupling to leptons required to fit $(g-2)_μ$, the scalar lifetime accidentally falls into the sub-nanosecond range which is essential to evade the severe proton beam dump experiments and astrophysical constraints, though it becomes sensitive to constraints from electron beam dump experiments. The additional phenomenological properties of this model are discussed.

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arXiv2019

Seven largest couplings of the standard model as IR fixed points

We report on an intriguing observation that the values of all the couplings in the standard model except those related to first two generations can be understood from the IR fixed point structure of renormalization group equations in the minimal supersymmetric model extended by one complete vectorlike family with the scale of new physics in a multi-TeV range.

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arXiv2019

Top-bottom-tau Yukawa coupling unification in the MSSM+1VF and fermion masses as IR fixed points

In the MSSM extended by a complete vectorlike family, precise top, bottom and tau Yukawa coupling unification can be achieved assuming SUSY threshold corrections which are typical for comparable superpartner masses. Furthermore, the unification is possible with a large unified coupling, implying that all three fermion masses can be simultaneously close to their IR fixed points. Assuming unified Yukawa couplings of order one or larger, the preferred common scale of new physics (superpartners and vectorlike matter) is in the 3 TeV to 30 TeV range, with larger couplings favoring smaller scales. Splitting superpartner masses from masses of vectorlike fields, the preferred scales extend in both directions. The multi-TeV scale for superpartners is compatible with and independently suggested by the Higgs boson mass.

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arXiv2019

Mass scale of vectorlike matter and superpartners from IR fixed point predictions of gauge and top Yukawa couplings

We use the IR fixed point predictions for gauge couplings and the top Yukawa coupling in the MSSM extended with vectorlike families to infer the scale of vectorlike matter and superpartners. We quote results for several extensions of the MSSM and present results in detail for the MSSM extended with one complete vectorlike family. We find that for a unified gauge coupling $α_G > 0.3$ vectorlike matter or superpartners are expected within 1.7 TeV (2.5 TeV) based on all three gauge couplings being simultaneously within 1.5\% (5\%) from observed values. This range extends to about 4 TeV for $α_G > 0.2$. We also find that in the scenario with two additional large Yukawa couplings of vectorlike quarks the IR fixed point value of the top Yukawa coupling independently points to a multi-TeV range for vectorlike matter and superpartners. Assuming a universal value for all large Yukawa couplings at the GUT scale, the measured top quark mass can be obtained from the IR fixed point for $\tan β\simeq 4$. The range expands to any $\tan β> 3$ for significant departures from the universality assumption. Considering that the Higgs boson mass also points to a multi-TeV range for superpartners in the MSSM, adding a complete vectorlike family at the same scale provides a compelling scenario where the values of gauge couplings and the top quark mass are understood as a consequence of the particle content of the model.

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arXiv2018

Little hierarchy in the minimally specified MSSM

We study constrained versions of the minimal supersymmetric model and investigate the hierarchy between the electroweak scale and the scale of superpartners that can be achieved without relying on specifying model parameters by more than one digit. This approach automatically avoids scenarios in which a large hierarchy is obtained by special choices of parameters and yet keeps scenarios that would be otherwise disfavored by various sensitivity measures. We consider models with universal gaugino and scalar masses, models with non-universal Higgs masses or non-universal gaugino masses and focus on scenarios in which all the model parameters are either of the same order or zero at the grand unification scale. We find that the maximal hierarchy between the electroweak scale and stop masses, requiring that model parameters are not specified beyond one digit, ranges from a factor of $\sim 10-30 $ for the CMSSM up to $\sim 300$ for models with non-universal Higgs or gaugino masses.

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