arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S. Moretti.
We study the sensitivity of top pair production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the nature of an underlying Z' boson, including full tree level standard model background effects and interferences. We demonstrate that exploiting combinations of asymmetry observables will enable one to distinguish between a selection of `benchmark' Z' models while assuming realistic final state reconstruction efficiencies and error estimates.
We present a phenomenological study of a CP-violating two-Higgs-doublet Model with type-II Yukawa couplings at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the light of recent LHC data, we focus on the parameter space that survives the current and past experimental constraints as well as theoretical bounds on the model. Once the phenomenological scenario is set, we analyse the scope of the LHC in exploring this model through the discovery of a charged Higgs boson produced in association with a W boson, with the former decaying into the lightest neutral Higgs and a second W state, altogether yielding a b\bar b W^+W^- signature, of which we exploit the W^+W^- semileptonic decays.
We investigate the scope of the LHC in probing the parameter space of a 4-site model supplemented by one composite Higgs state, assuming all past, current and future energy and luminosity stages of the CERN machine. We concentrate on the yield of charged di-boson production giving two opposite-charge different-flavour leptons and missing (transverse) energy, i.e., events induced via the subprocess $q\bar q\to e^+ν_e μ^-\barν_μ$ + ${\rm{c.c.}}$, which enables the production in the intermediate step of all additional neutral and charged gauge bosons belonging to the spectrum of this model, some of which in resonant topologies. We find this channel accessible over the background at all LHC configurations after a dedicated cut-based analysis. We finally compare the yield of the di-boson mode to that of Drell-Yan processes and establish that they have complementary strengths, one covering regions of parameter space precluded to the others and vice versa.
A new era in particle physics is being spurred on by new data from the Large Hadron Collider. Non-vanishing neutrino masses represent firm observational evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model. An extension of the latter, based on a SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y x U(1)_{B-L} symmetry, incorporating an established Baryon minus Lepton number invariance, is proposed as a viable and testable solution to the neutrino mass problem. We argue that LHC data will probe all the new content of this model: heavy neutrinos, an extra gauge boson emerging from spontaneous breaking of the additional gauge group at the TeV scale, onset by a new heavier Higgs boson, also visible at the CERN proton-proton collider. An even more exciting version of this model is the one exploiting Supersymmetry: firstly, it incorporates all its well known benefits; secondly, it alleviates the flaws of its more minimal realisations. Finally, this model provides a credible cold Dark Matter candidate, the lightest sneutrino, detectable in both underground and collider experiments.
We study the parameter space of the constrained exceptional supersymmetric standard model (cE6SSM) consistent with a Higgs signal near 125 GeV and the LHC searches for squarks, gluinos and Z'. The cE6SSM parameter space consistent with correct electroweak symmetry breaking, is represented by scans in the (m0, M1/2) plane for fixed Z' mass and tan beta, with squark, gluino and Higgs masses plotted as contours in this plane. We find that a 125 GeV Higgs mass only arises for a sufficiently large Z' mass, mostly above current limits, and for particular regions of squark and gluino masses corresponding to multi-TeV squark masses, but with lighter gluinos typically within reach of the LHC 8 TeV or forthcoming 14 TeV runs. Successful dark matter relic abundance may be achieved over all the parameter space, assuming a bino-like LSP with a nearby heavier inert Higgsino doublet and decoupled inert singlinos, resulting in conventional gluino decay signatures. A set of typical benchmark points with a Higgs near 125 GeV is provided which exemplifies these features.
The SUSY Les Houches Accord (SLHA) 2 extended the first SLHA to include various generalisations of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as well as its simplest next-to-minimal version. Here, we propose further extensions to it, to include the most general and well-established see-saw descriptions (types I/II/III, inverse, and linear) in both an effective and a simple gauged extension of the MSSM framework. In addition, we generalise the PDG numbering scheme to reflect the properties of the particles.
The Higgs boson of the Standard Model is being searched for at the LHC in the channel H -> gamma gamma. In the Higgs Triplet Model (HTM) there are contributions to this decay from loops of doubly charged scalars (H^{\pm\pm}) and singly charged scalars (H^\pm) that are not present in the Standard Model. These additional contributions are mediated by the trilinear couplings H_1 H^{++}H^{--} and H_1 H^{+}H^{-}, where H_1 is the lightest CP-even Higgs boson. We point out the possibility of constructive interference of the H^{\pm\pm} contribution with that of the W^\pm contribution, which enables a substantial enhancement of the branching ratio of H_1 -> gamma gamma in the HTM. The magnitude of the contribution of $H^{\pm\pm}$ is essentially determined by the mass of H^{\pm\pm} (m_{H^{\pm\pm}}) and a quartic scalar coupling (λ_1), with constructive interference arising for λ_1 < 0. Consequently, the ongoing searches for H -> gamma gamma restrict the parameter space of [m_{H^{\pm\pm}},λ_1] more stringently for λ_1 < 0 than for the recently-studied case of destructive interference with λ_1 > 0. Moreover, if the excess of gamma gamma events around a mass of 125 GeV in the LHC searches for H -> gamma gamma is substantiated with larger data samples, and the branching ratio is measured to be somewhat larger than that for the SM Higgs boson, then such an enhancement could be readily accommodated by H_1 in the HTM with λ_1 <0.
Searches for light charged Higgs bosons (H^\pm) in the decay of top quarks, t -> H^\pm b, are being carried out at the LHC and at the Tevatron. It is assumed that the dominant decay channels for such an H^\pm state are either H^\pm -> τνor H^\pm -> cs, and separate searches are performed with comparable sensitivity to the parameters m_{H^\pm} and tanbeta of the scalar potential. The branching ratio for the decay H^\pm -> cb can be as large as 80% in the Aligned Two Higgs Doublet Model and in models with three or more Higgs doublets with natural flavour conservation, while satisfying the constraint from b -> s gamma for m_{H^\pm} < m_t. Although the current search strategy for H^\pm -> cs is also sensitive to H^\pm -> cb, a considerable gain in sensitivity could be obtained by tagging the b quark from the decay H^\pm -> cb. Such an analysis, which could be readily performed at the Tevatron and in the 7 TeV and 8 TeV runs of the LHC, would probe a parameter space of the fermionic couplings of H^\pm in the above models which at present cannot be probed by experimental observables in flavour physics.
We present the activities of the "New Physics" working group for the "Physics at TeV Colliders" workshop (Les Houches, France, 30 May-17 June, 2011). Our report includes new agreements on formats for interfaces between computational tools, new tool developments, important signatures for searches at the LHC, recommendations for presentation of LHC search results, as well as additional phenomenological studies.
We study the sensitivity of top-antitop samples produced at all energy stages of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the nature of an underlying Z' boson, in presence of full tree level standard model (SM) background effects and relative interferences. We concentrate on differential mass spectra as well as both spatial and spin asymmetries thereby demonstrating that exploiting combinations of these observables will enable one to distinguish between sequential Z's and those pertaining to Left-Right symmetric models as well as E6 inspired ones, assuming realistic final state reconstruction efficiencies and error estimates.
We investigate the effect of one-loop corrections of ${\cal O}(α_S^2α_W)$ on the $t\bar t$ invariant mass spectrum at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in presence of both resonant and non-resonant Higgs boson effects. We show that corrections of ${\cal O}(α_S^2α_W)$ involving a non-resonant Higgs boson are comparable to or even larger than those involving interference with the s-channel resonant Higgs boson amplitude and that both of these are subleading with respect to all other (non-Higgs) diagrams through that order. We also compute the contribution through ${\cal O}(α_S^2α_W^2)$ of resonant Higgs boson production (i.e. Higgs production via $gg$ fusion) as well as the pure QCD ones of ${\cal O}(α_S^3)$. Altogether, we show that the well known peak-dip structure of the $M_{t\bar t}$ spectrum emerging from interference effects between the $t,u$-channel $gg$-induced Leading Order (LO) QCD diagrams and the one due to a Higgs boson in s-channel via $gg$-fusion is drastically swamped by the remainder of the terms of ${\cal O}(α_S^2α_W)$ discussed above.
We study top-(anti)quark pair production at the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the context of the Minimal Length Scenario (MLS) of the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali (ADD) model of extra dimensions (XDs). We show that sizable effects onto both the integrated and differential cross section due to graviton mediation are expected for a String scale, M_S, of O(1-10TeV) and several XDs, δ, all compatible with current experimental constraints. Potential limits on M_S are extracted. We also highlight clear phenomenological differences between a simple ADD scenario and its modification based on using the MLS as a natural regulator for divergent amplitudes of virtual KK graviton exchange.
The neutral triplet scalars (H^0, A^0) in the Higgs Triplet Model (HTM) are difficult to detect at the LHC for the case of mass degeneracy with the singly charged (H^+) and doubly charged (H^++) scalars. A non-zero value of a specific quartic coupling in the scalar potential removes this degeneracy, and positive values of this coupling would give rise to the mass hierarchy m_{A^0,H^0} > m_{H^+} > m_{H^++}. In this scenario the decays H^0-> H^+ W^* and A^0-> H^+ W^*, followed by H^+ -> H^{++} W^*, can proceed with large branching ratios, even for small mass splittings among the triplet scalars. Such a cascade process would lead to production of H^{++}H^{--} accompanied by several virtual W bosons, and would provide a way of observing H^0 and A^0 with a signature which is different from that of the conventional production process for doubly charged scalars, q qbar -> γ^*, Z^* -> H^{++}H^{--}. Assuming the decay H^{++} to l^+ l^+, we quantify the magnitude of the five-lepton and six-lepton signals in these channels, which have essentially negligible backgrounds at the LHC.
We study top-(anti)quark pair production at the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the context of the Minimal Length Scenario (MLS) of the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali (ADD) model of extra dimensions (XDs). We show that sizable effects onto both the integrated and differential cross section due to graviton mediation are expected for a String scale, M_S, of O(1-10TeV) and several XDs, δ, all compatible with current experimental constraints. Potential limits on M_S are extracted. We also highlight clear phenomenological differences between a simple ADD scenario and its modification based on using the MLS as a natural regulator for divergent amplitudes of virtual KK graviton exchange.
In the context of the Supersymmetric (SUSY) B-L (Baryon minus Lepton number) model with an inverse seesaw mechanism, we calculate the one-loop radiative corrections due to right-handed (s)neutrinos to the mass of the lightest Higgs boson when the latter is Standard Model (SM)-like. We show that such effects can be as large as O(100) GeV, thereby giving an absolute upper limit on such a mass around 200 GeV. The importance of this result from a phenomenological point of view is twofold. On the one hand, this enhancement greatly reconciles theory and experiment, by alleviating the so-called `little hierarchy problem' of the minimal SUSY realization, whereby the current experimental limit on the SM-like Higgs mass is very near its absolute upper limit predicted theoretically, of 130 GeV. On the other hand, a SM-like Higgs boson with mass below 200 GeV is still well within the reach of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), so that the SUSY realization discussed here is just as testable as the minimal version.
AX Per is an eclipsing symbiotic binary. During active phases, deep narrow minima are observed in its light curve, and the ionization structure in the binary changes significantly. From 2007.5, AX Per entered a new active phase. It was connected with a significant enhancement of the hot star wind. Simultaneously, we identified a variable optically thick warm (Teff ~ 6000 K) source that contributes markedly to the composite spectrum. The source was located at the hot star's equator and has the form of a flared disk, whose outer rim simulates the warm photosphere. The formation of the neutral disk-like zone around the accretor during the active phase was connected with its enhanced wind. We suggested that this connection represents a common origin of the warm pseudophotospheres that are indicated during the active phases of symbiotic stars.
We consider collider signatures of the exceptional supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (E6SSM). This E6 inspired SUSY model is based on the SM gauge group together with an extra U(1) gauge symmetry under which right--handed neutrinos have zero charge. To ensure anomaly cancellation and gauge coupling unification the low energy matter content of the E6SSM involve extra exotic matter beyond the MSSM. We discuss the collider signatures associated with the production of new particles predicted by the E6SSM and consider the implications of this model for dark matter and Higgs phenomenology. Since exotic quarks in the E6SSM can be either diquarks or leptoquarks they may provide spectacular new physics signals at the LHC.
The Higgs Triplet Model (HTM) of neutrino mass generation predicts the existence of doubly charged Higgs bosons (H^{\pm\pm}). In the HTM a scalar eigenstate (H_2) is dominantly composed of the scalar field from the isospin doublet, and could be significantly heavier than H^{\pm\pm}. Such a scenario would allow the possibility of a large branching ratio for the decay H_2-> H^{++}H^{--}. From the production mechanism of gluon-gluon fusion, gg-> H_2, the above decay mode would give rise to pair production of doubly charged Higgs bosons (H^{++}H^{--}) with a cross section which could be significantly larger than the cross sections for the standard production mechanisms qqbar -> γ,Z-> H^{++}H^{--} and q'qbar -> W -> H^{\pm\pm}H^{\mp}. We discuss the phenomenological consequences for the ongoing searches for H^{\pm\pm} at the Tevatron and at the LHC.