arXiv subjects

Tilman Plehn

Publications and source records attributed to Tilman Plehn.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Matching Matters!

Effective Lagrangians are a useful tool for a data-driven approach to physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC. However, for the new physics scales accessible at the LHC, the effective operator expansion is only relatively slowly converging at best. For tree-level processes, it has been found that the agreement between the effective Lagrangian and a range of UV-complete models depends sensitively on the appropriate definition of the matching. We extend this analysis to the one-loop level, which is relevant for electroweak precision data and Higgs decay to photons. We show that near the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking the validity of the effective theory description can be systematically improved through an appropriate matching procedure. In particular, we find a significant increase in accuracy when including suitable terms suppressed by the Higgs vacuum expectation value in the matching.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Learning from the New Higgs-like Scalar before It Vanishes

Motivated by a di-photon anomaly observed by ATLAS and CMS we develop an SFitter analysis for a combined electroweak-Higgs sector, and a scalar portal at the LHC. The theoretical description is based on the linear effective Lagrangian for the Higgs and gauge fields, combined with an additional singlet scalar. The key feature is the extraction of reliable information on the portal structure of the combined scalar potential. For the specific di-photon anomaly we find that the new state might well form such a Higgs portal. To obtain more conclusive results we define and test the connection of the Wilson coefficients in the Higgs and heavy scalar sectors, as suggested by a portal setup.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

The Gauge-Higgs Legacy of the LHC Run I

The effective Lagrangian expansion provides a framework to study effects of new physics at the electroweak scale. To make full use of LHC data in constraining higher-dimensional operators we need to include both the Higgs and the electroweak gauge sector in our study. We first present an analysis of the relevant di-boson production LHC results to update constraints on triple gauge boson couplings. Our bounds are several times stronger than those obtained from LEP data. Next, we show how in combination with Higgs measurements the triple gauge vertices lead to a significant improvement in the entire set of operators, including operators describing Higgs couplings.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

The Higgs Portal and Cosmology

Higgs portal interactions provide a simple mechanism for addressing two open problems in cosmology: dark matter and the baryon asymmetry. In the latter instance, Higgs portal interactions may contain the ingredients for a strong first order electroweak phase transition as well as new CP-violating interactions as needed for electroweak baryogenesis. These interactions may also allow for a viable dark matter candidate. We survey the opportunities for probing the Higgs portal as it relates to these questions in cosmology at the LHC and possible future colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Hunting the Flavon

The next generation of experiments in particle physics will for the first time systematically test flavor physics models based on flavon fields. Starting from the current quark-flavor constrains on such models we show how the new generation of lepton flavor experiments will dominate indirect searches in the coming decades. A future 100 TeV hadron collider will then be the first experiment to probe flavons as propagating degrees of freedom. Our estimate of the collider reach relies on a proper treatment of backgrounds and detector effects. Complementary searches for indirect effects in lepton flavor experiments and propagating degrees of freedom at colliders are very limited at the LHC, but will be a new feature at a 100 TeV hadron collider.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Pushing Higgs Effective Theory to its Limits

At the LHC, an effective theory of the Higgs sector allows us to analyze kinematic distributions in addition to inclusive rates, although there is no clear hierarchy of scales. We systematically analyze how well dimension-6 operators describe LHC observables in comparison to the full theory, and in a range where the LHC will be sensitive. The key question is how the breakdown of the dimension-6 description affects Higgs measurements during the upcoming LHC run for weakly interacting models. We cover modified Higgs sectors with a singlet and doublet extension, new top partners, and a vector triplet. First, weakly interacting models only generate small relevant subsets of dimension-6 operators. Second, the dimension-6 description tends to be justified at the LHC. Scanning over model parameters, significant discrepancies can nevertheless arise; their main source is the matching procedure in the absence of a well-defined hierarchy of scales. This purely theoretical problem should not affect future LHC analyses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Non-Linear Higgs Legacy of the LHC Run I

In the recent paper on "The Higgs Legacy of the LHC Run I" we interpreted the LHC Higgs results in terms of an effective Lagrangian using the SFitter framework. For the on-shell Higgs analysis of rates and kinematic distributions we relied on a linear representation based on dimension-6 operators with a simplified fermion sector. In this addendum we describe how the extension of Higgs couplings modifications in a linear dimension-6 Lagrangian can be formally understood in terms of the non-linear effective field theory. It turns out that our previous results can be translated to the non-linear framework through a simple operator rotation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Towards the Final Word on Neutralino Dark Matter

We present a complete phenomenological prospectus for thermal relic neutralinos. Including Sommerfeld enhancements to relic abundance and halo annihilation calculations, we obtain direct, indirect, and collider discovery prospects for all neutralinos with mass parameters $M_1,M_2,|μ| < 4$ TeV, that freeze out to the observed dark matter abundance, with scalar superpartners decoupled. Much of the relic neutralino sector will be uncovered by the direct detection experiments Xenon1T and LZ, as well as indirect detection with CTA. We emphasize that thermal relic higgsinos will be found by next-generation direct detection experiments, so long as $M_{1,2} < 4$ TeV. Charged tracks at a 100 TeV hadron collider complement indirect searches for relic winos. Thermal relic bino-winos still evade all planned experiments, including disappearing charged-track searches. However, they can be discovered by compressed electroweakino searches at a 100 TeV collider, completing the full coverage of the relic neutralino surface.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Measuring the Top Yukawa Coupling at 100 TeV

We propose a measurement of the top Yukawa coupling at a 100 TeV hadron collider, based on boosted Higgs and top decays. We find that the top Yukawa coupling can be measured to 1%, with excellent handles for reducing systematic and theoretical uncertainties, both from side bands and from $t\bar{t}H/t\bar{t}Z$ ratios.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Invisible Higgs Decays to Hooperons in the NMSSM

The galactic center excess of gamma ray photons can be naturally explained by light Majorana fermions in combination with a pseudoscalar mediator. The NMSSM provides exactly these ingredients. We show that for neutralinos with a significant singlino component the galactic center excess can be linked to invisible decays of the Standard-Model-like Higgs at the LHC. We find predictions for invisible Higgs branching ratios in excess of 50 percent, easily accessible at the LHC. Constraining the NMSSM through GUT-scale boundary conditions only slightly affects this expectation. Our results complement earlier NMSSM studies of the galactic center excess, which link it to heavy Higgs searches at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Status of Supersymmetry after the LHC Run 1

Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a complete and renormalisable candidate for an extension of the Standard Model. At an energy scale not too far above the electroweak scale it would solve the hierarchy problem of the SM Higgs boson, dynamically explain electroweak symmetry breaking, and provide a dark-matter candidate. Since it doubles the Standard Model degrees of freedom, SUSY predicts a large number of additional particles, whose properties and effects on precision measurements can be explicitly predicted in a given SUSY model. In this review the motivation for SUSY is outlined, the various searches strategies for SUSY particles at the LHC are described, and the status of SUSY in global analyses after the LHC Run 1 is summarized.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2015

The Higgs Legacy of the LHC Run I

Based on Run I data we present a comprehensive analysis of Higgs couplings. For the first time this SFitter analysis includes independent tests of the Higgs-gluon and top Yukawa couplings, Higgs decays to invisible particles, and off-shell Higgs measurements. The observed Higgs boson is fully consistent with the Standard Model, both in terms of coupling modifications and effective field theory. Based only on Higgs total rates the results using both approaches are essentially equivalent, with the exception of strong correlations in the parameter space induced by effective operators. These correlations can be controlled through additional experimental input, namely kinematic distributions. Including kinematic distributions the typical Run I reach for weakly interacting new physics now reaches 300 to 500 GeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Decoupling Theoretical Uncertainties from Measurements of the Higgs Boson

We develop a technique to present Higgs coupling measurements, which decouple the poorly defined theoretical uncertainties associated to inclusive and exclusive cross section predictions. The technique simplifies the combination of multiple measurements and can be used in a more general setting. We illustrate the approach with toy LHC Higgs coupling measurements and a collection of new physics models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Relic Neutralino Surface at a 100 TeV collider

We map the parameter space for MSSM neutralino dark matter which freezes out to the observed relic abundance, in the limit that all superpartners except the neutralinos and charginos are decoupled. In this space of relic neutralinos, we show the dominant dark matter annihilation modes, the mass splittings among the electroweakinos, direct detection rates, and collider cross-sections. The mass difference between the dark matter and the next-to-lightest neutral and charged states is typically much less than electroweak gauge boson masses. With these small mass differences, the relic neutralino surface is accessible to a future 100 TeV hadron collider, which can discover inter-neutralino mass splittings down to 1 GeV and thermal relic dark matter neutralino masses up to 1.5 TeV with a few inverse attobarns of luminosity. This coverage is a direct consequence of the increased collider energy: the Standard Model events with missing transverse momentum in the TeV range have mostly hard electroweak radiation, distinct from the soft radiation shed in compressed electroweakino decays. We exploit this kinematic feature in final states including photons and leptons, tailored to the 100 TeV collider environment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Resonance Searches with an Updated Top Tagger

The performance of top taggers, for example in resonance searches, can be significantly enhanced through an increased set of variables, with a special focus on final-state radiation. We study the production and the decay of a heavy gauge boson in the upcoming LHC run. For constant signal efficiency, the multivariate analysis achieves an increased background rejection by up to a factor 30 compared to our previous tagger. Based on this study and the documentation in the Appendix we release a new HEPTopTagger2 for the upcoming LHC run. It now includes an optimal choice of the size of the fat jet, N-subjettiness, and different modes of Qjets.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Higgs Mass and the Scale of New Physics

In view of the measured Higgs mass of 125 GeV, the perturbative renormalization group evolution of the Standard Model suggests that our Higgs vacuum might not be stable. We connect the usual perturbative approach and the functional renormalization group which allows for a straightforward inclusion of higher-dimensional operators in the presence of an ultraviolet cutoff. In the latter framework we study vacuum stability in the presence of higher-dimensional operators. We find that their presence can have a sizable influence on the maximum ultraviolet scale of the Standard Model and the existence of instabilities. Finally, we discuss how such operators can be generated in specific models and study the relation between the instability scale of the potential and the scale of new physics required to avoid instabilities.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Spying an invisible Higgs

We investigate the potential of multivariate techniques to improve the LHC search for invisible Higgs decays in weak boson fusion. We find that in the coming runs the LHC will be able to probe an invisible Higgs width of 28% within a year and 3.5% during a high luminosity run. A significant improvement over these estimates requires an analysis of QCD radiation patterns down to 10 GeV. Such an analysis can improve the reach at the high luminosity run to 2%. Throughout our analysis we employ a conservative, data driven background determination.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Squark and gluino production cross sections in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13, 14, 33 and 100 TeV

We present state-of-the-art cross section predictions for the production of supersymmetric squarks and gluinos at the upcoming LHC run with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 13$ and $14$ TeV, and at potential future $pp$ colliders operating at $\sqrt{s} = 33$ and $100$ TeV. The results are based on calculations which include the resummation of soft-gluon emission at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy, matched to next-to-leading order supersymmetric QCD corrections. Furthermore, we provide an estimate of the theoretical uncertainty due to the variation of the renormalisation and factorisation scales and the parton distribution functions.

hep-ph↗