arXiv subjects

Roberto Franceschini

Publications and source records attributed to Roberto Franceschini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

The physics case of a 3 TeV muon collider stage

In the path towards a muon collider with center of mass energy of 10 TeV or more, a stage at 3 TeV emerges as an appealing option. Reviewing the physics potential of such muon collider is the main purpose of this document. In order to outline the progression of the physics performances across the stages, a few sensitivity projections for higher energy are also presented. There are many opportunities for probing new physics at a 3 TeV muon collider. Some of them are in common with the extensively documented physics case of the CLIC 3 TeV energy stage, and include measuring the Higgs trilinear coupling and testing the possible composite nature of the Higgs boson and of the top quark at the 20 TeV scale. Other opportunities are unique of a 3 TeV muon collider, and stem from the fact that muons are collided rather than electrons. This is exemplified by studying the potential to explore the microscopic origin of the current $g$-2 and $B$-physics anomalies, which are both related with muons.

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arXiv2022

The last Complex WIMPs standing

We continue the study of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) started in [arXiv:2107.09688], focusing on a single complex electroweak $n$-plet with non-zero hypercharge added to the Standard Model. The minimal splitting between the Dark Matter and its electroweak neutral partner required to circumvent direct detection constraints allows only multiplets with hypercharge smaller or equal to 1. We compute for the first time all the calculable WIMP masses up to the largest multiplet allowed by perturbative unitarity. For the minimal allowed splitting, most of these multiplets can be fully probed at future large-exposure direct detection experiments, with the notable exception of the doublet with hypercharge 1/2. We show how a future muon collider can fully explore the parameter space of the complex doublet combining missing mass, displaced track and long-lived track searches. In the same spirit, we study how a future muon collider can probe the parameter space of complex WIMPs in regions where the direct detection cross section drops below the neutrino floor. Finally, we comment on how precision observables can provide additional constraints on complex WIMPs.

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arXiv2022

Snowmass2021 - White Paper, Implications of Energy Peak for Collider Phenomenology: Top Quark Mass Determination and Beyond

We first review the decade-old, broad collider physics research program dubbed energy-peaks. We consider the energy distribution of a massless particle in the lab frame arising from the two-body decay of a heavy particle produced unpolarized, whose boost distribution is arbitrary. Remarkably, the location of the peak of this child particle's energy distribution is identical to its single-valued energy in the rest frame of the parent, which is a function of the parent's mass and that of the other decay product. We summarize generalizations to other types of decay and a variety of applications to BSM. The energy-peak idea can also furnish a measurement of the top quark via the energy of the bottom quark from its decay, which, based on the "parent-boost-invariance," is less sensitive to details of the production mechanism of the top quark (cf.~most other methods assume purely SM production of the top quarks, hence are subject to uncertainties therein, including a possible BSM contribution). The original proposal along this line was to simply use the $b$-jet energy as a very good approximation to the bottom quark energy. This method has been successfully implemented by the CMS collaboration. However, the $b$-jet energy-peak method is afflicted by the jet-energy scale (JES) uncertainty. Fortunately, this drawback can be circumvented by using the decay length of a $B$-hadron contained in the $b$-jet as a proxy for the bottom quark energy. An interesting proposal is to then appropriately dovetail the above two ideas resulting in a "best of both worlds" determination of the top quark mass, i.e., based on a measurement of the $B$-hadron decay length, but improved by the energy-peak concept: this would be free of JES uncertainty and largely independent of the top quark production model. We summarize here the results of such an analysis which is to appear in a forthcoming paper.

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arXiv2022

Closing the window on WIMP Dark Matter

We study scenarios where Dark Matter is a weakly interacting particle (WIMP) embedded in an ElectroWeak multiplet. In particular, we consider real SU(2) representations with zero hypercharge, that automatically avoid direct detection constraints from tree-level Z-exchange. We compute for the first time all the calculable thermal masses for scalar and fermionic WIMPs, including Sommerfeld enhancement and bound states formation at leading order in gauge boson exchange and emission. WIMP masses of few hundred TeV are shown to be compatible both with s-wave unitarity of the annihilation cross-section, and perturbativity. We also provide theory uncertainties on the masses for all multiplets, which are shown to be significant for large SU(2) multiplets. We then outline a strategy to probe these scenarios at future experiments. Electroweak 3-plets and 5-plets have masses up to about 16 TeV and can efficiently be probed at a high energy muon collider. We study various experimental signatures, such as single and double gauge boson emission with missing energy, and disappearing tracks, and determine the collider energy and luminosity required to probe the thermal Dark Matter masses. Larger multiplets are out of reach of any realistic future collider, but can be tested in future gamma ray telescopes and possibly in large-exposure liquid Xenon experiments.

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arXiv2021

Higgs and BSM Physics at the future Muon Collider

We describe recent work on the physics of the Higgs boson at future muon colliders. Starting from the low energy muon collider at the Higgs boson pole we extend our discussion to the multi-TeV muon collider and outline the physics case for such machines about the properties of the Higgs boson and physics beyond the Standard Model that can be possibly discovered.

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arXiv2020

Two Paths Towards Precision at a Very High Energy Lepton Collider

We illustrate the potential of a very high energy lepton collider (from 10 to 30 TeV center of mass energy) to explore new physics indirectly in the vector boson fusion double Higgs production process and in direct diboson production at high energy. Double Higgs production is found to be sensitive to the anomalous Higgs trilinear coupling at the percent level, and to the Higgs compositeness $ξ$ parameter at the per mille or sub-per mille level thanks to the measurement of the cross-section in the di-Higgs high invariant mass tail. High energy diboson (and tri-boson) production is sensitive to Higgs-lepton contact interaction operators at a scale of several tens or hundred TeV, corresponding to a reach on the Higgs compositeness scale well above the one of any other future collider project currently under discussion. This result follows from the unique capability of the very high energy lepton collider to measure Electroweak cross-sections at 10 TeV energy or more, where the effect of new physics at even higher energy is amplified. The general lesson is that the standard path towards precision physics, based on measurements of high-statistics processes such as single and double Higgs production, is accompanied at the very high energy lepton collider by a second strategy based on measurements at the highest available energy.

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arXiv2019

Beyond the Standard Model physics at CLIC

A summary of the recent results from CERN Yellow Report on the CLIC potential for new physics is presented, with emphasis on the direct search for new physics scenarios motivated by the open issues of the Standard Model.

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arXiv2019

The Higgs Top Interface

After some recollection of the implications that top quark and Higgs boson properties determination have had on each other, we discuss recent and future expected progress in the study of the top-Higgs sector. In particular we discuss some results concerning new physics states interacting with the top-Higgs sector, the impact of measuring top-Higgs interactions accurately to determine the Higgs boson self interaction, the CP nature of the Higgs boson and possible detection of flavor violating interaction at levels comparable with the prediction of viable new physics models.

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arXiv2018

Electroweak Precision Tests in High-Energy Diboson Processes

A promising avenue to perform precision tests of the SM at the LHC is to measure differential cross-sections at high invariant mass, exploiting in this way the growth with the energy of the corrections induced by heavy new physics. We classify the leading growing-with-energy effects in longitudinal diboson and in associated Higgs production processes, showing that they can be encapsulated in four real "high-energy primary" parameters. We assess the reach on these parameters at the LHC and at future hadronic colliders, focusing in particular on the fully leptonic $WZ$ channel that appears particularly promising. The reach is found to be superior to existing constraints by one order of magnitude, providing a test of the SM electroweak sector at the per-mille level, in competition with LEP bounds. Unlike LHC Run-1 bounds, which only apply to new physics effects that are much larger than the SM in the high-energy tail of the distributions, the probe we study applies to a wider class of new physics scenarios where such large departures are not expected.

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arXiv2018

Fragmentation Uncertainties in Hadronic Observables for Top-quark Mass Measurements

We study the Monte Carlo uncertainties due to modeling of hadronization and showering in the extraction of the top-quark mass from observables that use exclusive hadronic final states in top decays, such as $t \rightarrow \text{anything+J/}ψ$ or $t\rightarrow \text{anything}+(B\rightarrow \text{charged tracks})$, where $B$ is a $B$-hadron. To this end, we investigate the sensitivity of the top-quark mass, determined by means of a few observables already proposed in the literature as well as some new proposals, to the relevant parameters of event generators, such as HERWIG 6 and PYTHIA 8. We find that constraining those parameters at $\mathcal{O}(1\%-10\%)$ is required to avoid a Monte Carlo uncertainty on $m_t$ greater than 500 MeV. For the sake of achieving the needed accuracy on such parameters, we examine the sensitivity of the top-quark mass measured from spectral features, such as peaks, endpoints and distributions of $E_{B}$, $m_{B\ell}$, and some $m_{T2}$-like variables. We find that restricting oneself to regions sufficiently close to the endpoints enables one to substantially decrease the dependence on the Monte Carlo parameters, but at the price of inflating significantly the statistical uncertainties. To ameliorate this situation we study how well the data on top-quark production and decay at the LHC can be utilized to constrain the showering and hadronization variables. We find that a global exploration of several calibration observables, sensitive to the Monte Carlo parameters but very mildly to $m_{t}$, can offer useful constraints on the parameters, as long as such quantities are measured with a 1% precision.

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arXiv2018

Energy peaks: a high energy physics outlook

Energy distributions of decay products carry information on the kinematics of the decay in ways that are at the same time straightforward and quite hidden. I will review these properties and discuss their early historical applications as well as more recent ones in the context of i) methods for the measurement of masses of new physics particle with semi-invisible decays, ii) the characterization of Dark Matter particles produced at colliders, iii) precision mass measurements of Standard Model particles, in particular of the top quark. Finally I will give an outlook of further developments and applications of energy peaks method for high energy physics at colliders and beyond.

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arXiv2016

Mass Measurement Using Energy Spectra in Three-body Decays

In previous works we have demonstrated how the energy distribution of massless decay products in two body decays can be used to measure the mass of decaying particles. In this work we show how such results can be generalized to the case of multi-body decays. The key ideas that allow us to deal with multi-body final states are an extension of our previous results to the case of massive decay products and the factorization of the multi-body phase space. The mass measurement strategy that we propose is distinct from alternative methods because it does not require an accurate reconstruction of the entire event, as it does not involve, for instance, the missing transverse momentum, but rather requires measuring only the visible decay products of the decay of interest. To demonstrate the general strategy, we study a supersymmetric model wherein pair-produced gluinos each decay to a stable neutralino and a bottom quark-antiquark pair via an off-shell bottom squark. The combinatorial background stemming from the indistinguishable visible final states on both decay sides can be treated by an "event mixing" technique, the performance of which is discussed in detail. Taking into account dominant backgrounds, we are able to show that the mass of the gluino and, in favorable cases, that of the neutralino can be determined by this mass measurement strategy.

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arXiv2016

Digamma, what next?

If the 750 GeV resonance in the diphoton channel is confirmed, what are the measurements necessary to infer the properties of the new particle and understand its nature? We address this question in the framework of a single new scalar particle, called digamma ($\digamma$). We describe it by an effective field theory, which allows us to obtain general and model-independent results, and to identify the most useful observables, whose relevance will remain also in model-by-model analyses. We derive full expressions for the leading-order processes and compute rates for higher-order decays, digamma production in association with jets, gauge or Higgs bosons, and digamma pair production. We illustrate how measurements of these higher-order processes can be used to extract couplings, quantum numbers, and properties of the new particle.

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arXiv2016

Goldstones in Diphotons

We study the conditions for a new scalar resonance to be observed first in diphotons at the LHC Run-2. We focus on scenarios where the scalar arises either from an internal or spacetime symmetry broken spontaneously, for which the mass is naturally below the cutoff and the low-energy interactions are fixed by the couplings to the broken currents, UV anomalies, and selection rules. We discuss the recent excess in diphoton resonance searches observed by ATLAS and CMS at 750 GeV, and explore its compatibility with other searches at Run-1 and its interpretation as Goldstone bosons in supersymmetry and composite Higgs models. We show that two candidates naturally emerge: a Goldstone boson from an internal symmetry with electromagnetic anomalies, and the scalar partner of the Goldstone of supersymmetry breaking: the sgoldstino. The dilaton from conformal symmetry breaking is instead disfavoured by present data, in its minimal natural realization.

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arXiv2016

Top quark mass determination from the energy peaks of b-jets and B-hadrons at NLO QCD

We analyze the energy spectra of $single$ b-jets and B-hadrons resulting from the production and decay of top quarks within the SM at the LHC at the NLO QCD. For both hadrons and jets, we calculate the correlation of the peak of the spectrum with the top quark mass, considering the "energy-peak" as an observable to determine the top quark mass. Such a method is motivated by our previous work where we argued that this approach can have reduced sensitivity to the details of the production mechanism of the top quark, whether it is higher-order QCD effects or new physics contributions. As part of the NLO improvement over the original proposal, we assess the residual sensitivity of the extracted top quark mass to perturbative effects both in top quark production and decay. For a 1% jet energy scale uncertainty (and assuming negligible statistical error), the top quark mass can then be extracted using the energy-peak of b-jets with an error +- (1.2 (exp) + 0.6(th)) GeV. We note that recently the CMS collaboration reported a top quark mass measurement based on the original proposal (with b-jets) so that our result contributes to a precise evaluation of the associated theory uncertainty. In view of the dominant jet energy scale uncertainty in the measurement using b-jets, we also investigate the extraction of the top quark mass from the energy-peak of the corresponding B-hadrons which, in principle, can be measured without this uncertainty. The calculation of the B-hadron energy spectrum is carried out using fragmentation functions at NLO. The dependence on the fragmentation scale turns out to be the largest theoretical uncertainty in this extraction of top quark mass. Future improvement of the treatment of bottom quark hadronization can reduce this uncertainty, rendering methods based on the B-hadron energy-peak competitive for the top quark mass measurement.

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arXiv2016

What is the gamma gamma resonance at 750 GeV?

Run 2 LHC data show hints of a new resonance in the diphoton distribution at an invariant mass of 750 GeV. We analyse the data in terms of a new boson, extracting information on its properties and exploring theoretical interpretations. Scenarios covered include a narrow resonance and, as preliminary indications suggest, a wider resonance. If the width indications persist, the new particle is likely to belong to a strongly-interacting sector. We also show how compatibility between Run 1 and Run 2 data is improved by postulating the existence of an additional heavy particle, whose decays are possibly related to dark matter.

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arXiv2016

Wish-list for Run II top quark measurements (for BSM)

In this contribution I will highlight the new challenges for top quark physics at LHC Run II, focusing in particular on the interplay between precision studies on the top quark and searches for new physics. A new strategy to search for subtle scenarios of new physics is envisaged. The ability of compute and measure very accurately top quark properties such as its production rate, decay properties, e.g rates and distributions, and variables sensitive to the top quark mass is put at the center of this strategy to probe new physics.

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arXiv2015

Energy spectra of massive two-body decay products and mass measurement

We have recently established a new method for measuring the mass of unstable particles produced at hadron colliders based on the analysis of the energy distribution of a massless product from their two-body decays. The central ingredient of our proposal is the remarkable result that, for an unpolarized decaying particle, the location of the peak in the energy distribution of the observed decay product is identical to the (fixed) value of the energy that this particle would have in the rest-frame of the decaying particle, which, in turn, is a simple function of the involved masses. In addition, we utilized the property that this energy distribution is symmetric around the location of peak when energy is plotted on a logarithmic scale. The general strategy was demonstrated in several specific cases, including both beyond the SM particles, as well as for the top quark. In the present work, we generalize this method to the case of a massive decay product from a two-body decay; this procedure is far from trivial because (in general) both the above- mentioned properties are no longer valid. Nonetheless, we propose a suitably modified parametrization of the energy distribution that was used successfully for the massless case, which can deal with the massive case as well. We establish the accuracy of this parametrization using concrete examples of energy spectra of Z bosons from the decay of a heavier stop into a Z boson and a lighter stop. We then study a realistic application for the same process, but now including dominant backgrounds and using foreseeable statistics at LHC14, in order to determine the performance of this method for an actual mass measurement. The upshot of our present and previous work is that, in spite of energy being a Lorentz-variant quantity, its distribution emerges as a powerful tool for mass measurement at hadron colliders.

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