arXiv subjects

Tomer Volansky

Publications and source records attributed to Tomer Volansky.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Direct Detection of Sub-GeV Dark Matter

Direct detection strategies are proposed for dark matter particles with MeV to GeV mass. In this largely unexplored mass range, dark matter scattering with electrons can cause single-electron ionization signals, which are detectable with current technology. Ultraviolet photons, individual ions, and heat are interesting alternative signals. Focusing on ionization, we calculate the expected dark matter scattering rates and estimate the sensitivity of possible experiments. Backgrounds that may be relevant are discussed. Theoretically interesting models can be probed with existing technologies, and may even be within reach using ongoing direct detection experiments. Significant improvements in sensitivity should be possible with dedicated experiments, opening up a window to new regions in dark matter parameter space.

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arXiv2011

Can CoGeNT and DAMA Modulations Be Due to Dark Matter?

We explore the dark matter interpretation of the anomalies claimed by the DAMA and CoGeNT experiments, in conjunction with the various null direct-detection experiments. An independent analysis of the CoGeNT data is employed and several experimental and astrophysical uncertainties are considered. Various phenomenological models are studied, including isospin violating interactions, momentum-dependent form factors, velocity-dependent form factors, inelastic scatterings (endothermic and exothermic) and channeling. We find that the severe tension between the anomalies and the null results can be ameliorated but not eliminated, unless extreme assumptions are made.

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arXiv2011

Simplified Models for LHC New Physics Searches

This document proposes a collection of simplified models relevant to the design of new-physics searches at the LHC and the characterization of their results. Both ATLAS and CMS have already presented some results in terms of simplified models, and we encourage them to continue and expand this effort, which supplements both signature-based results and benchmark model interpretations. A simplified model is defined by an effective Lagrangian describing the interactions of a small number of new particles. Simplified models can equally well be described by a small number of masses and cross-sections. These parameters are directly related to collider physics observables, making simplified models a particularly effective framework for evaluating searches and a useful starting point for characterizing positive signals of new physics. This document serves as an official summary of the results from the "Topologies for Early LHC Searches" workshop, held at SLAC in September of 2010, the purpose of which was to develop a set of representative models that can be used to cover all relevant phase space in experimental searches. Particular emphasis is placed on searches relevant for the first ~50-500 pb-1 of data and those motivated by supersymmetric models. This note largely summarizes material posted at http://lhcnewphysics.org/, which includes simplified model definitions, Monte Carlo material, and supporting contacts within the theory community. We also comment on future developments that may be useful as more data is gathered and analyzed by the experiments.

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arXiv2011

Odd Tracks at Hadron Colliders

New physics that exhibits irregular tracks such as kinks, intermittent hits or decay in flight may easily be missed at hadron colliders. We demonstrate this by studying viable models of light, O(10 GeV), colored particles that decay predominantly inside the tracker. Such particles can be produced at staggering rates, and yet may not be identified or even triggered on at the LHC, unless specifically searched for. In addition, the models we study provide an explanation for the original measurement of the anomalous charged track distribution by CDF. The presence of irregular tracks in these models reconcile that measurement with the subsequent reanalysis and the null results of ATLAS and CMS. Our study clearly illustrates the need for a comprehensive study of irregular tracks at the LHC.

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arXiv2011

Asymmetric Dark Matter from Leptogenesis

We present a new realization of asymmetric dark matter in which the dark matter and lepton asymmetries are generated simultaneously through two-sector leptogenesis. The right-handed neutrinos couple both to the Standard Model and to a hidden sector where the dark matter resides. This framework explains the lepton asymmetry, dark matter abundance and neutrino masses all at once. In contrast to previous realizations of asymmetric dark matter, the model allows for a wide range of dark matter masses, from keV to 10 TeV. In particular, very light dark matter can be accommodated without violating experimental constraints. We discuss several variants of our model that highlight interesting phenomenological possibilities. In one, late decays repopulate the symmetric dark matter component, providing a new mechanism for generating a large annihilation rate at the present epoch and allowing for mixed warm/cold dark matter. In a second scenario, dark matter mixes with the active neutrinos, thus presenting a distinct method to populate sterile neutrino dark matter through leptogenesis. At late times, oscillations and dark matter decays lead to interesting indirect detection signals.

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arXiv2010

Discovering Higgs Decays to Lepton Jets at Hadron Colliders

The Higgs boson may decay predominantly into a hidden sector, producing lepton jets instead of the standard Higgs signatures. We propose a search strategy for such a signal at hadron colliders. A promising channel is the associated production of the Higgs with a Z or W, where the dominant background is Z or W plus QCD jets. The lepton jets can be discriminated from QCD jets by cutting on the electromagnetic fraction and charge ratio. The former is the fraction of jet energy deposited in the electromagnetic calorimeter and the latter is the ratio of energy carried by charged particles to the electromagnetic energy. We use a Monte Carlo description of detector response to estimate QCD rejection efficiencies of order 10^-3 per jet. The expected Higgs mass reach is about 155 GeV at the Tevatron with 10 fb^-1 of data and about 135 GeV at the 7 TeV LHC with 1 fb^-1.

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arXiv2010

Hidden Higgs Decaying to Lepton Jets

The Higgs and some of the Standard Model superpartners may have been copiously produced at LEP and the Tevatron without being detected. We study a novel scenario of this type in which the Higgs decays predominantly into a light hidden sector either directly or through light SUSY states. Subsequent cascades increase the multiplicity of hidden sector particles which, after decaying back into the Standard Model, appear in the detector as clusters of collimated leptons known as lepton jets. We identify the relevant collider observables that characterize this scenario, and study a wide range of LEP and Tevatron searches to recover the viable regions in the space of observables. We find that the Higgs decaying to lepton jets can be hidden when the event topology mimics that of hadronic backgrounds. Thus, as many as 10^4 leptonic Higgs and SUSY decays may be hiding in the LEP and Tevatron data. We present benchmark models with a 100 GeV Higgs that are consistent with all available collider constraints. We end with a short discussion of strategies for dedicated searches at LEP, the Tevatron and the LHC, that allow for a discovery of the Higgs or SUSY particles decaying to lepton jets.

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arXiv2010

Dark Matter Interpretations of the Electron/Positron Excesses after FERMI

The cosmic-ray excess observed by PAMELA in the positron fraction and by FERMI and HESS in the electron + positron flux can be interpreted in terms of DM annihilations or decays into leptonic final states. Final states into tau's or 4mu give the best fit to the excess. However, in the annihilation scenario, they are incompatible with photon and neutrino constraints, unless DM has a quasi-constant density profile. Final states involving electrons are less constrained but poorly fit the excess, unless hidden sector radiation makes their energy spectrum smoother, allowing a fit to all the data with a combination of leptonic modes. In general, DM lighter than about a TeV cannot fit the excesses, so PAMELA should find a greater positron fraction at higher energies. The DM interpretation can be tested by FERMI gamma observations above 10 GeV: if the electronic excess is everywhere in the DM halo, inverse Compton scattering on ambient light produces a well-predicted gamma excess that FERMI should soon detect.

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arXiv2009

Searches for Long Lived Neutral Particles

An intriguing possibility for TeV scale physics is the existence of neutral long lived particles (LOLIPs) that subsequently decay into SM states. Such particles are many cases indistinguishable from missing transverse energy (MET) at colliders. We propose new methods to search for these particles using neutrino telescopes. We study their detection prospects, assuming production either at the LHC or through dark matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun and the Earth. We find that the sensitivity for LOLIPs produced at the LHC is limited by luminosity and detection energy thresholds. On the other hand, in the case of DM annihilation into LOLIPs, the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes is promising and may extend beyond the reach of upcoming direct detection experiments. In the context of low scale hidden sectors weakly coupled to the SM, such indirect searches allow to probe couplings as small as 10^-15.

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arXiv2009

Decaying into the Hidden Sector

The existence of light hidden sectors is an exciting possibility that may be tested in the near future. If DM is allowed to decay into such a hidden sector through GUT suppressed operators, it can accommodate the recent cosmic ray observations without over-producing antiprotons or interfering with the attractive features of the thermal WIMP. Models of this kind are simple to construct, generic and evade all astrophysical bounds. We provide tools for constructing such models and present several distinct examples. The light hidden spectrum and DM couplings can be probed in the near future, by measuring astrophysical photon and neutrino fluxes. These indirect signatures are complimentary to the direct production signals, such as lepton jets, predicted by these models.

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arXiv2009

Searching for Smoking Gun Signatures of Decaying Dark Matter

Clear methods to differentiate between decaying and annihilating dark matter (DM) scenarios are still by and large unavailable. In this note, we study the potential astrophysical signatures of a new class of hidden sector decaying DM models, which can address the recent cosmic ray measurements. Such models may produce primary photons and/or neutrinos at large rates, correlated with the leptonic production. The photon and neutrino spectra will then contain sharp features at the TeV scale. We demonstrate the discovery potential for upcoming and future measurements by FERMI, HESS, AGIS and IceCube/DeepCore. We show that these models may be discovered in the near future. Specifically, measurements of diffuse gamma rays by FERMI can detect the start of a hard photon feature. We argue that these hard spectra can be produced by decaying dark matter and be consistent with current constraints, but are difficult to reconcile with models of annihilating DM. Consequently the measurement of a hard spectral feature, in correlation with the current cosmic ray measurements, will strongly favor decaying DM models. Finally we comment on the preliminary results from the Inner Galaxy presented by the FERMI collaboration.

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arXiv2009

Semi-direct Gauge Mediation

We describe a framework for gauge mediation of supersymmetry breaking in which the messengers are charged under the hidden sector gauge group but do not play a role in breaking supersymmetry. From this point of view, our framework is between ordinary gauge mediation and direct mediation. As an example, we consider the 3-2 model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and add to it massive messengers which are SU(2) doublets. We briefly discuss the phenomenology of this scenario.

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arXiv2009

General Minimal Flavor Violation

A model independent study of the minimal flavor violation (MFV) framework is presented, where the only sources of flavor breaking at low energy are the up and down Yukawa matrices. Two limits are identified for the Yukawa coupling expansion: linear MFV, where it is truncated at the leading terms, and nonlinear MFV, where such a truncation is not possible due to large third generation Yukawa couplings. These are then resummed to all orders using non-linear sigma-model techniques familiar from models of collective breaking. Generically, flavor diagonal CP violating (CPV) sources in the UV can induce O(1) CPV in processes involving third generation quarks. Due to a residual U(2) symmetry, the extra CPV in B_d-\bar B_d mixing is bounded by CPV in B_s-\bar B_s mixing. If operators with right-handed light quarks are subdominant, the extra CPV is equal in the two systems, and is negligible in processes involving only the first two generations. We find large enhancements in the up type sector, both in CPV in D-\bar D mixing and in top flavor violation.

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arXiv2009

Dark Matter Sees The Light

We construct a Dark Matter (DM) annihilation module that can encompass the predictions from a wide array of models built to explain the recently reported PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS excesses. We present a detailed analysis of the injection spectrums for DM annihilation and quantitatively demonstrate effects that have previously not been included from the particle physics perspective. With this module we demonstrate the parameter space that can account for the aforementioned excesses and be compatible with existing high energy gamma ray and neutrino experiments. However, we find that it is relatively generic to have some tension between the results of the HESS experiment and the ATIC/PPB-BETS experiments within the context of annihilating DM. We discuss ways to alleviate this tension and how upcoming experiments will be able to differentiate amongst the various possible explanations of the purported excesses.

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arXiv2008

A New Approach to mu-Bmu

We present a new approach to the mu-Bmu problem of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. Rather than reducing the generically large contribution to Bmu we point out that acceptable electroweak symmetry breaking can be achieved with mu^2 << Bmu if at the same time Bmu << m_Hd^2. This hierarchy can easily appear in models where the Higgs fields are directly coupled to the supersymmetry breaking sector. Such models can yield novel electroweak symmetry breaking vacua, can deal with the supersymmetric flavor and CP problems, allow for gauge coupling unification, and result in distinct phenomenological predictions for the spectrum of superparticles.

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arXiv2007

Dynamical Supersymmetry Breaking from Simple Quivers

We construct a simple local model of dynamical supersymmetry breaking. The model is a one generation SU(5) that arises from a IIB Z_N orientifold. It does not admit a runaway direction and is argued to stabilize the blowup mode related to the corresponding U(1) factor. The theory demonstrates the existence of a new class of "blowup" fractional branes. We further discuss a compact realization of the quiver on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold which enables one to add fluxes and stabilize the complex structure moduli.

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arXiv2007

Probing Minimal Flavor Violation at the LHC

If the LHC experiments discover new particles that couple to the Standard Model fermions, then measurements by ATLAS and CMS can contribute to our understanding of the flavor puzzles. We demonstrate this statement by investigating a scenario where extra SU(2)-singlet down-type quarks are within the LHC reach. By measuring masses, production cross sections and relative decay rates, minimal flavor violation (MFV) can in principle be excluded. Conversely, these measurements can probe the way in which MFV applies to the new degrees of freedom. Many of our conclusions are valid in a much more general context than this specific extension of the Standard Model.

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arXiv2007

Comments on the Meta-Stable Vacuum in N_f=N_c SQCD and Direct Mediation

We revisit N_f=N_c SQCD and its non-supersymmetric minima conjectured by Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih (ISS). We argue that the existence of such minima depends on the signs of three non-calculable parameters and that no evidence can be inferred by deforming the theory. We demonstrate this by studying a deformation of the theory which involves additional gauge singlets. In this case, the conjectured minimum is destabilized. We comment on the consequences of such singlets in models of direct mediation and in particular in the Pentagon model.

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