Physics at a 100 TeV pp collider: beyond the Standard Model phenomena
This report summarises the physics opportunities in the search and study of physics beyond the Standard Model at a 100 TeV pp collider.
arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P. S. Bhupal Dev.
This report summarises the physics opportunities in the search and study of physics beyond the Standard Model at a 100 TeV pp collider.
We explain the recent excess seen by ATLAS and CMS experiments at around 750 GeV in the di-photon invariant mass as a narrow width sneutrino decaying to di-photons via a stau loop in R-parity violating Supersymmetry. The stau mass is predicted to be somewhere between half the resonant sneutrino mass and half the sneutrino mass plus 14 GeV. The scenario also predicts further signal channels at an invariant mass of 750 GeV, the most promising being into di-jets and $WW$. We also predict a left handed charged slepton decaying into $WZ$ and $W γ$ at a mass 750-754 GeV.
We show that if the new physics beyond the Standard Model is associated with a first-order phase transition around $10^7-10^8$ GeV, the energy density stored in the resulting stochastic gravitational waves and the corresponding peak frequency are within the projected final sensitivity of the advanced LIGO/VIRGO detectors. We discuss some possible new physics scenarios that could arise at such energies, and in particular, the consequences for Peccei-Quinn and supersymmetry breaking scales.
If neutrino masses arise from a TeV-scale minimal Left-Right seesaw model, the ensuing extended Higgs sector with neutral, singly and doubly-charged scalars has a plethora of implications for new Higgs boson searches beyond the Standard Model at future hadron colliders, such as the $\sqrt s=14$ TeV High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) and the proposed $\sqrt s=100$ TeV collider (FCC-hh or SPPC). In this article, we provide a glimpse of this new physics in the Higgs sector. Our discussion focuses on the minimal non-supersymmetric version of the Left-Right model with high-scale parity breaking but TeV-scale $SU(2)_R$-breaking, a property desirable to suppress the type-II seesaw contribution to neutrino masses. We analyze the masses and couplings of the physical Higgs bosons in this model, and discuss their dominant production and decay modes at hadron colliders. We identify the best discovery channels for each of the non-SM Higgs bosons and estimate the expected SM backgrounds in these channels to derive the sensitivity reaches for the new Higgs sector at future hadron colliders under discussion. Following a rather conservative approach, we estimate that the heavy Higgs sector can be effectively probed up to 15 TeV at the $\sqrt s=100$ TeV machine. We also discuss how the LR Higgs sector can be distinguished from other extended Higgs sectors.
We analyse in detail the scalar triplet contribution to the low-energy lepton flavour violating (LFV) and lepton number violating (LNV) processes within a TeV-scale left-right symmetric framework. We show that in both type-I and type-II seesaw dominance for the light neutrino masses, the triplet of mass comparable to or smaller than the largest right-handed neutrino mass scale can give sizeable contribution to the LFV processes, except in the quasi-degenerate limit of light neutrino masses, where a suppression can occur due to cancellations. In particular, a moderate value of the heaviest neutrino to scalar triplet mass ratio $r\lesssim {\cal O}(1)$ is still experimentally allowed and can be explored in the future LFV experiments. Similarly, the contribution of a relatively light triplet to the LNV process of neutrinoless double beta decay could be significant, disfavouring a part of the model parameter space otherwise allowed by LFV constraints. Nevertheless, we find regions of parameter space consistent with both LFV and LNV searches, for which the values of the total effective neutrino mass can be accessible to the next generation ton-scale experiments. Such light triplets can also be directly searched for at the LHC, thus providing a complementary probe of this scenario. Finally, we also study the implications of the triplet contribution for the left-right symmetric model interpretation of the recent diboson anomaly at the LHC.
We present a possible interpretation of the recent diphoton excess reported by the $\sqrt s=13$ TeV LHC data in quark seesaw left-right models with vectorlike fermions proposed to solve the strong $CP$ problem without the axion. The gauge singlet real scalar field responsible for the mass of the vectorlike fermions has the right production cross section and diphoton branching ratio to be identifiable with the reported excess at around 750 GeV diphoton invariant mass. Various ways to test this hypothesis as more data accumulates at the LHC are proposed.
We propose a new possible explanation of the ATLAS di-boson excess: that it is due to heavy resonant slepton production, followed by decay into di-smuons. The smuon has a mass not too far from the W and Z masses, and so it is easily confused with W or Z bosons after its subsequent decay into di-jets, through a supersymmetry violating and R-parity violating interaction. Such a scenario is not currently excluded by other constraints and remains to be definitively tested in Run II of the LHC. Such light smuons can easily simultaneously explain the discrepancy between the measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and the Standard Model prediction.
We propose ways to distinguish between different mechanisms behind the collider signals of TeV-scale seesaw models for neutrino masses using kinematic endpoints of invariant mass variables. We particularly focus on two classes of such models widely discussed in literature: (i) Standard Model extended by the addition of singlet neutrinos and (ii) Left-Right Symmetric Models. Relevant scenarios involving the same "smoking-gun" collider signature of dilepton plus dijet with no missing transverse energy differ from one another by their event topology, resulting in distinctive relationships among the kinematic endpoints to be used for discerning them at hadron colliders. These kinematic endpoints are readily translated to the mass parameters of the on-shell particles through simple analytic expressions which can be used for measuring the masses of the new particles. A Monte Carlo simulation with detector effects is conducted to test the viability of the proposed strategy in a realistic environment. Finally, we discuss the future prospects of testing these scenarios at the $\sqrt s=14$ and 100 TeV hadron colliders.
We discuss the current status and future prospects of heavy neutrino searches at the energy frontier, which might play an important role in vindicating the simplest seesaw paradigm as the new physics responsible for neutrino mass generation. After summarizing the current search limits and potential improvements at hadron colliders, we highlight the unparalleled sensitivities achievable in the clean environment of future lepton colliders.
Since the current LHC Higgs data suggest the couplings of the observed 125 GeV Higgs boson to be close to the Standard Model (SM) expectations, any extended Higgs sector must lead to the so-called SM alignment limit, where one of the Higgs bosons behaves exactly like that of the SM. In the context of the Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM), this alignment is often associated with either decoupling of the heavy Higgs sector or accidental cancellations in the 2HDM potential. We present a novel symmetry justification for 'natural' alignment without necessarily decoupling or fine-tuning. We show that there exist only three different symmetry realizations of the natural alignment scenario in 2HDM. We analyze new collider signals for the heavy Higgs sector in the natural alignment limit, which dominantly lead to third-generation quarks in the final state and can serve as a useful observational tool during the Run-II phase of the LHC.
We study the Higgs mass spectrum as predicted by a Maximally Symmetric Two Higgs Doublet Model (MS-2HDM) potential based on the SO(5) group, softly broken by bilinear Higgs mass terms. We show that the lightest Higgs sector resulting from this MS-2HDM becomes naturally aligned with that of the Standard Model (SM), independently of the charged Higgs boson mass and $\tan β$. In the context of Type-II 2HDM, SO(5) is the simplest of the three possible symmetry realizations of the scalar potential that can naturally lead to the SM alignment. Nevertheless, renormalization group effects due to the hypercharge gauge coupling $g'$ and third-generation Yukawa couplings may break sizeably this SM alignment, along with the custodial symmetry inherited by the SO(5) group. Using the current Higgs signal strength data from the LHC, which disfavour large deviations from the SM alignment limit, we derive lower mass bounds on the heavy Higgs sector as a function of $\tanβ$, which can be stronger than the existing limits for a wide range of parameters. In particular, we propose a new collider signal based on the observation of four top quarks to directly probe the heavy Higgs sector of the MS-2HDM during the run-II phase of the LHC.
Primordial inflation and Dark Matter (DM) could both belong to the hidden sector. It is therefore plausible that the inflaton, which drives inflation, could couple to the DM either directly or indirectly, thus providing a common origin for both luminous and non-luminous matter. We explore this interesting possibility and show that, in certain scenarios, the DM mass can be correlated with the tensor-to-scalar ratio. This correlation might provide us with a window of opportunity for unravelling the properties of DM beyond the standard freeze-out paradigm.
We show that the excess events observed in a number of recent LHC resonance searches can be simultaneously explained within a minimal non-supersymmetric left-right inverse seesaw model for neutrino masses with $W_R$ mass around 1.9 TeV. We further show that the minimal TeV-scale particle content that leads to gauge coupling unification in this model predicts $g_R\simeq 0.51$ at the TeV-scale. The extra color-singlet, $SU(2)$-triplet fermions required for unification can be interpreted as the Dark Matter of the Universe. Future measurements of the ratio of same-sign to opposite-sign dilepton events can provide a way to distinguish this scenario from the canonical cases of type-I and inverse seesaw, i.e. provide a measure of the relative magnitudes of the Dirac and Majorana masses of the right-handed neutrinos in the $SU(2)_R$-doublet of the left-right symmetric model.
We discuss the future prospects of heavy neutrino searches at next generation lepton colliders. In particular, we focus on the planned electron-positron colliders, operating in two different beam modes, namely, $e^+e^-$ and $e^-e^-$. In the $e^+e^-$ beam mode, we consider various production and decay modes of the heavy neutrino ($N$), and find that the final state with $e+2j+{E\!\!\!/}_T$, arising from the $e^+e^-\to Nν$ production mode, is the most promising channel. However, since this mode is insensitive to the Majorana nature of the heavy neutrinos, we also study a new production channel $e^+e^-\to Ne^\pm W^\mp$, which leads to a same-sign dilepton plus four jet final state, thus directly probing the lepton number violation in $e^+e^-$ colliders. In the $e^-e^-$ beam mode, we study the prospects of the lepton number violating process of $e^-e^-\to W^-W^-$, mediated by a heavy Majorana neutrino. We use both cut-based and multivariate analysis techniques to make a realistic calculation of the relevant signal and background events, including detector effects for a generic linear collider detector. We find that with the cut-based analysis, the light-heavy neutrino mixing parameter $|V_{eN}|^2$ can be probed down to $\sim 10^{-4}$ at 95\% C.L. for the heavy neutrino mass up to $400$ GeV or so at $\sqrt s=500$ GeV with $100 \rm{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. For smaller mixing values, we show that a multivariate analysis can improve the signal significance by up to an order of magnitude. These limits will be at least an order of magnitude better than the current best limits from electroweak precision data, as well as the projected limits from $\sqrt s=14$ TeV LHC.
Inspired by the recent diboson excess observed at the LHC and possible interpretation within a TeV-scale Left-Right symmetric framework, we explore its implications for low-energy experiments searching for lepton number and flavor violation. Assuming a simple Type-II seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses, we show that for the right-handed (RH) gauge boson mass and coupling values required to explain the LHC anomalies, the RH contribution to the lepton number violating process of neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) is already constrained by current experiments for relatively low-mass (MeV-GeV) RH neutrinos. The future ton-scale $0νββ$ experiments could probe most of the remaining parameter space, irrespective of the neutrino mass hierarchy and uncertainties in the oscillation parameters and nuclear matrix elements. On the other hand, the RH contribution to the lepton flavor violating process of $μ\to eγ$ is constrained for relatively heavier (TeV) RH neutrinos, thus providing a complementary probe of the model. Finally, a measurement of the absolute light neutrino mass scale from future precision cosmology could make this scenario completely testable.
Understanding the spectral and flavor composition of the astrophysical neutrino flux responsible for the recently observed ultra-high energy events at IceCube is of great importance for both astrophysics and particle physics. We perform a statistical likelihood analysis to the 3-year IceCube data and derive the allowed range of the spectral index and flux normalization for various well-motivated physical flavor compositions at source. While most of the existing analyses so far assume the flavor composition of the neutrinos at an astrophysical source to be (1:2:0), it seems rather unnatural to assume only one type of source, once we recognize the possibility of at least two physical sources. Bearing this in mind, we entertain the possibility of a two-component source for the analysis of IceCube data. It appears that our two component hypothesis explains some key features of the data better than a single-component scenario, i.e it addresses the apparent energy gap between 400 TeV to about 1 PeV and easily accommodates the observed track to shower ratio. Given the extreme importance of the flavor composition for the correct interpretation of the underlying astrophysical processes as well as for the ramification for particle physics, this two-component flux should be tested as more data is accumulated.
Flavour effects play an important role in the statistical evolution of particle number densities in several particle physics phenomena. We present a fully flavour-covariant formalism for transport phenomena, in order to consistently capture all flavour effects in the system. We explicitly study the scenario of Resonant Leptogenesis (RL), and show that flavour covariance requires one to consider generically off-diagonal number densities, rank-4 rate tensors in flavour space, and non-trivial generalization of the discrete symmetries C, P and T. The flavour-covariant transport equations, obtained in our semi-classical framework, describe the effects of three relevant physical phenomena: coherent heavy-neutrino oscillations, quantum decoherence in the charged-lepton sector, and resonant CP violation due to heavy-neutrino mixing. We show quantitatively that the final asymmetry is enhanced by up to an order of magnitude, for electroweak-scale heavy neutrinos, as compared to that obtained from flavour-diagonal or partially flavour off-diagonal equations. A full field-theoretic treatment in the weakly-resonant regime, based on the Kadanoff-Baym (KB) equations, confirms that heavy-neutrino oscillations and mixing are two distinct phenomena, and reproduces the results obtained in our semi-classical framework. Finally, we show that the quasi-particle ansaetze, often employed in KB approaches to RL, discard the phenomenon of mixing, capturing only oscillations and leading to an underestimate of the final asymmetry by a factor of order 2.
We review the collider phenomenology of neutrino physics and the synergetic aspects at energy, intensity and cosmic frontiers to test the new physics behind the neutrino mass mechanism. In particular, we focus on seesaw models within the minimal setup as well as with extended gauge and/or Higgs sectors, and on supersymmetric neutrino mass models with seesaw mechanism and with $R$-parity violation. In the simplest Type-I seesaw scenario with sterile neutrinos, we summarize and update the current experimental constraints on the sterile neutrino mass and its mixing with the active neutrinos. We also discuss the future experimental prospects of testing the seesaw mechanism at colliders and in related low-energy searches for rare processes, such as lepton flavor violation and neutrinoless double beta decay. The implications of the discovery of lepton number violation at the LHC for leptogenesis are also studied.