Flavour and CP Violation
In this talk I review the status of B mixing in the Standard Model and the room for new physics in B_s and B_d mixing in the light of recent LHCb data.
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arXiv subjects
Ulrich Nierste
Publications and source records attributed to Ulrich Nierste.
B Mixing in the Standard Model and Beyond
I present numerical updates of the Standard-Model predictions for the mass and width differences and the CP asymmetries in flavor-specific decays in Bs-Bs-bar and Bd-Bd-bar mixing. Then I discuss the current status of new physics in these mixing amplitudes.
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Impact of a Higgs boson at a mass of 126 GeV on the standard model with three and four fermion generations
We perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of the standard model (SM) with three and four generations using the latest Higgs search results from LHC and Tevatron, the electroweak precision observables (EWPOs) measured at LEP and SLD and the latest determinations of M_W, m_t and alpha_s. For the three-generation case we analyse the tensions in the electroweak fit by removing individual observables from the fit and comparing their predicted values with the measured ones. In particular, we discuss the impact of the Higgs search results on the deviations of the EWPOs from their best-fit values. Our indirect prediction of the top mass is m_t=175.7(+3.0)(-2.2) GeV at 68.3% CL, in good agreement with the direct measurement. We also plot the preferred area in the M_W - m_t plane. The best-fit Higgs mass is 126.0 GeV. For the case of the SM with a perturbative sequential fourth fermion generation (SM4) we discuss the deviations of the Higgs signal strengths from their best-fit values. The H -> gamma gamma signal strength now disagrees with its best-fit SM4 value at more than 4 sigma. We perform a likelihood-ratio test to compare the SM and SM4 and show that the SM4 is excluded at 5.3 sigma. Without the Tevatron data on H -> b bbar the significance drops to 4.8 sigma.
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Status of the fourth fermion generation before ICHEP2012: Higgs data and electroweak precision observables
We perform a global fit of the parameters of the Standard Model with a sequential fourth generation (SM4) to LHC and Tevatron Higgs data and electroweak precision data. Using several likelihood ratio tests we compare the performance of the SM4 and SM3 at describing the measured data. Since the SM3 and SM4 are not nested (i.e. the SM3 can not be considered as a special case of the SM4 with some parameters fixed) the usual analytical formulae for p-values in likelihood ratio tests do not hold. We thus apply a new method to compute these p-values. For a Higgs mass of 126.5 GeV and fourth-generation quark masses above 600 GeV we find that the SM4 is excluded at 3.1 sigma.
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Joint analysis of Higgs decays and electroweak precision observables in the Standard Model with a sequential fourth generation
We analyse the impact of LHC and Tevatron Higgs data on the viability of the Standard Model with a sequential fourth generation (SM4), assuming Dirac neutrinos and a Higgs mass of 125 GeV. To this end we perform a combined fit to the signal cross sections of pp -> H -> gamma gamma,ZZ*,WW* at the LHC, to p pbar -> VH -> V b bbar (V = W, Z) at the Tevatron and to the electroweak precision observables. Fixing the mass of the fourth generation down-type quark b' to 600 GeV we find best-fit values of m_t' = 632 GeV, m_l4 = 113.6 GeV and m_nu4 = 58.0 GeV for the other fourth-generation fermion masses. We compare the chi-square values and pulls of the different observables in the three and four-generation case and show that the data is better described by the three-generation Standard Model. We also investigate the effects of mixing between the third and fourth-generation quarks and of a future increased lower bound on the fourth-generation charged lepton mass of 250 GeV.
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Resolving the sign ambiguity in Delta Gamma_s with B_s -> D_s K
The analysis of tagged B_s -> J/psi phi decays determines the CP phase phi_s in B_s-anti-B_s mixing with a two-fold ambiguity. The solutions differ in the sign of cos(phi_s) which equals the sign of the width difference Delta Gamma_s among the two B_s mass eigenstates. We point out that this ambiguity can be removed with the help of B_s -> D_s K decays. We compare untagged and tagged strategies and find the tagged analysis more promising. The removal of the sign ambiguity in Delta Gamma_s can be done with relatively low statistics and could therefore be a target for the early stage of B_s -> D_s K studies.
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Gamma(K -> e nu)/Gamma(K -> mu nu) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
The quantity R_K = Gamma(K -> e nu)/Gamma(K -> mu nu) studied by the experiment NA62 at CERN is known to probe lepton-flavour violating (LFV) parameters of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). A non-zero parameter delta_{RR}^{13} can open the decay channel K -> e nu_tau and enhance R_K over its Standard-Model value. In the region of the parameter space probed by NA62 the contribution from a bino-stau loop diagram is numerically dominant and the mixing between left-handed and right-handed staus is important. For large values of the stau mixing angle theta_tau the commonly adopted mass insertion approximation is not accurate. We therefore express the supersymmetric contribution to R_K in terms of the mass of the lightest stau eigenstate, the mixing angle theta_tau, and other relevant MSSM parameter such as tan(beta) and the charged-Higgs boson mass M_H and plot the parameter regions constrained by R_K. We further study to which extent R_K can be depleted through MSSM contributions interfering destructively with the SM amplitude for K -> e nu_e. This lepton-flavour conserving (LFC) mechanism involves the parameter combination |delta_{LL}^{13} delta_{RR}^{13}|, which can be constrained with a naturalness consideration for the electron mass or with the measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. The LFC effect on R_K is marginal, an NA62 measurement of R_K significantly below the Standard Model expectation would indicate physics beyond the MSSM.
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Phenomenological consequences of radiative flavor violation in the MSSM
In this article we investigate the consequences of radiative flavor violation (RFV) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). In this framework the small off-diagonal elements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix and the small quark masses of the first two generations are generated from the trilinear supersymmetry-breaking terms. The impact of RFV on flavor-physics observables is studied in detail. We focus on the limiting cases in which the CKM matrix is either generated in the down-sector, i.e. by the soft SUSY-breaking mass insertions delta^dLR_i3 (i=1,2), or in the up-quark sector, i.e. by the mass insertions delta^uLR_i3. In the first case we find an enhancement of b->s gamma, which constrains the allowed range of sparticle masses (Fig. 3). In addition, neutral Higgs penguins significantly contribute to B_s,d->mu^+mu^- and, if also delta^dLR_32 is different from zero, these Higgs effects are capable of explaining the observed CP phase in the B_s system. If, on the other hand, the CKM generation takes place in the up-sector, |epsilon_K| receives additional positive contributions enforcing large squark and gluino masses (see Fig. 8). In this case also the rare decay K->pi nu nu receives sizable contributions. In conclusion we find that for SUSY masses around 1 TeV RFV is an interesting alternative to Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV).
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The MSSM with a softly broken U(2)^3 flavor symmetry
In this article we review the phenomenological consequences of radiative flavor-violation (RFV) in the MSSM. In the model under consideration the U(3)^3 flavor symmetry of the gauge sector is broken in a first step to U(2)^3 by the top and bottom Yukawa couplings of the superpotential (and possibly also by the bilinear SUSY-breaking terms). In a second step the remaining U(2)^3 flavor symmetry is softly broken by the trilinear A-terms in order to obtain the measured quark masses and the CKM matrix of the Standard Model (SM) at low energies. The phenomenological implications of this model depend on the actual choice of the SUSY breaking A-terms. If the CKM matrix is generated in the down sector (by A^d), Bs->mu^+mu^- receives non-decoupling contributions from Higgs penguins which become important already for moderate values of tan(beta). Also the Bs mixing amplitude can be significantly modified compared to the SM prediction including a potential induction of a new CP-violating phase (which is not possible in the MSSM with MFV).
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Flavour physics, supersymmetry and grand unification
A global fit to quark flavour-physics data disfavours the Standard Model with 3.6 standard deviations and points towards new CP-violating physics in meson-antimeson mixing amplitudes. Tevatron data call for a new Bs-Bs-bar mixing phase and new physics in Bd-Bd-bar mixing alleviates the tension on the unitarity triangle driven by B(B-> tau nu). In supersymmetric GUT models the large atmospheric neutrino mixing angle can influence b -> s transitions. I present the results of a recent analysis in an SO(10) GUT model which accomodates the large Bs-Bs-bar mixing phase while simultaneously obeying all other experimental constraints.
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Flavor Physics in an SO(10) Grand Unified Model
In supersymmetric grand-unified models, the lepton mixing matrix can possibly affect flavor-changing transitions in the quark sector. We present a detailed analysis of a model proposed by Chang, Masiero and Murayama, in which the near-maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing angle governs large new b -> s transitions. Relating the supersymmetric low-energy parameters to seven new parameters of this SO(10) GUT model, we perform a correlated study of several flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes. We find the current bound on B(tau -> mu gamma) more constraining than B(B -> X_s gamma). The LEP limit on the lightest Higgs boson mass implies an important lower bound on tan beta, which in turn limits the size of the new FCNC transitions. Remarkably, the combined analysis does not rule out large effects in B_s-B_s-bar mixing and we can easily accomodate the large CP phase in the B_s-B_s-bar system which has recently been inferred from a global analysis of CDF and DO data. The model predicts a particle spectrum which is different from the popular Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM). B(tau -> mu gamma) enforces heavy masses, typically above 1 TeV, for the sfermions of the degenerate first two generations. However, the ratio of the third-generation and first-generation sfermion masses is smaller than in the CMSSM and a (dominantly right-handed) stop with mass below 500 GeV is possible.
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Yukawa coupling and anomalous magnetic moment of the muon: an update for the LHC era
We study the interplay between a soft muon Yukawa coupling generated radiatively with the trilinear A-terms of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. In the absence of a tree-level muon Yukawa coupling the lightest smuon mass is predicted to be in the range between 750 GeV and 2700 GeV at 2 sigma, if the bino mass M_1 is below 1 TeV. Therefore, a detection of a smuon (in conjunction with a sub-TeV bino) at the LHC would directly imply a non-zero muon Yukawa coupling in the MSSM superpotential. Inclusion of slepton flavor mixing could in principle lower the mass of one smuon-like slepton below 750 GeV. However, the experimental bounds on radiative lepton decays instead strengthen the lower mass bound, with larger effects for smaller M_1, We also extend the analysis to the electron case and find that a light selectron close to the current experimental search limit may prove the MSSM electron Yukawa coupling to be non-zero.
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Numerical updates of lifetimes and mixing parameters of B mesons
We update the Standard-Model predictions for several quantities related to $B_s - \bar B_s$ and $B_d - \bar B_d$ mixing. The mass and width differences in the $B_s$ system read $ ΔM_s^{\rm SM} = (17.3 \pm 2.6) ps^{-1}$ and $ΔΓ_s^{\rm SM}= (0.087 \pm 0.021) ps^{-1}$, respectively. The CP asymmetries in flavour-specific decays are $a_{\rm fs}^{s,\rm SM} = (1.9 \pm 0.3) \cdot 10^{-5}$ and $a_{\rm fs}^{d,\rm SM} = - (4.1 \pm 0.6) \cdot 10^{-4}$. We further critically discuss the sensitivity of $ΔΓ_d$ to new physics and the uncertainties in the relation between $ΔΓ_s$ and the branching fraction of $B_s \to D_s^{(*)}{}^+ D_s^{(*)}{}^-$. Then we present a numerical update of the average width $Γ_s$ in the $B_s$ system and correlate $Γ_s$ with the $B^+$-$B_d$ lifetime ratio. Finally we summarise the key results of our recent global analysis with the CKMfitter collaboration addressing new physics in $B - \bar B$-mixing. In an appropriately defined scenario parametrising new physics in $B - \bar B$-mixing by two complex parameters $Δ_d$ and $Δ_s$ the Standard-Model point {$Δ_d=Δ_s=1$} is disfavoured by 3.6 standard deviations.
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Supersymmetric renormalisation of the CKM matrix and new constraints on the squark mass matrices
We compute the finite renormalisation of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix induced by gluino-squark diagrams in the MSSM with non-minimal sources of flavour violation. Subsequently we derive bounds on the flavour-off-diagonal elements of the squark mass matrices by requiring that the radiative corrections to the CKM elements do not exceed the experimental values. Our constraints on the associated dimensionless quantities delta^{d LR}_{ij}, j>i, are stronger than the bounds from flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes if gluino and squarks are heavier than 500 GeV. Our bound on |delta^{u LR}_{12}| is stronger than the FCNC bound from D-D-bar mixing for superpartner masses above 900 GeV. We further find a useful bound on |delta_{13}^{u LR}|, for which no FCNC constraint is known. Our results imply that it is still possible to generate all observed flavour violation from the soft supersymmetry-breaking terms without conflicting with present-day data on FCNC processes. We suggest that a flavour symmetry renders the Yukawa sector flavour-diagonal and the trilinear supersymmetry-breaking terms are the spurion fields breaking this flavour symmetry. We further derive the dominant supersymmetric radiative corrections to the couplings of charged Higgs bosons and charginos to quarks and squarks.
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Lepton flavour violation in the MSSM
We derive new constraints on the quantities delta_{XY}^{ij}, X,Y=L,R, which parametrise the flavour-off-diagonal terms of the charged slepton mass matrix in the MSSM. Considering mass and anomalous magnetic moment of the electron we obtain the bound |delta^{13}_{LL} delta^{13}_{RR}|<0.1 for tan beta=50, which involves the poorly constrained element delta^{13}_{RR}. We improve the predictions for the decays tau -> mu gamma, tau -> e gamma and mu -> e gamma by including two-loop corrections which are enhanced if tan beta is large. The finite renormalisation of the PMNS matrix from soft SUSY-breaking terms is derived and applied to the charged-Higgs-lepton vertex. We find that the experimental bound on BR(tau -> e gamma) severely limits the size of the MSSM loop correction to the PMNS element U_{e3}, which is important for the proper interpretation of a future U_{e3} measurement. Subsequently we confront our new values for delta^{ij}_{LL} with a GUT analysis. Further, we include the effects of dimension-5 Yukawa terms, which are needed to fix the Yukawa unification of the first two generations. If universal supersymmetry breaking occurs above the GUT scale, we find the flavour structure of the dimension-5 Yukawa couplings tightly constrained by mu -> e gamma.
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Flavor physics within and beyond the Standard Model
I review recent progress in theoretical calculations related to the CKM unitarity triangle. After briefly discussing hints for new physics in B_d-B_d-bar mixing and B_s-B_s-bar mixing I present three topics of MSSM flavor physics: First I discuss new tan-beta-enhanced radiative corrections to flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) amplitudes which go beyond the familiar Higgs-mediated FCNC diagrams and may enhance the mixing-induced CP asymmetry in B_d -> phi K_S. The second topic is a reappraisal of the idea that flavor violation originates from the soft supersymmetry-breaking terms. Finally I discuss how mu -> e gamma can be used to constrain the flavor structure of the dimension-5 Yukawa interactions which appear in realistic grand unified theories.
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Chirally enhanced corrections to FCNC processes in the generic MSSM
Chirally enhanced supersymmetric QCD corrections to FCNC processes are investigated in the framework of the MSSM with generic sources of flavor violation. These corrections arise from flavor-changing self-energy diagrams and can be absorbed into a finite renormalization of the squark-quark-gluino vertex. In this way enhanced two-loop and even three-loop diagrams can be efficiently included into a leading-order (LO) calculation. Our corrections substantially change the values of the parameters delta^{d,LL}_{23}, delta^{d,LR}_{23}, delta^{d,RL}_{23}, and delta^{d,RR}_{23} extracted from Br[B->X_s gamma] if tan(beta) is large. We find stronger (weaker) constraints compared to the LO result for negative (positive) values of mu. The constraints on delta^{d,LR,RL}_{13} and delta^{d,LR,RL}_{23} from B_d mixing and B_s mixing change drastically if the third-generation squark masses differ from those of the first two generations. K mixing is more strongly affected by the chirally enhanced loop diagrams and even sub-percent deviations from degenerate down and strange squark masses lead to profoundly stronger constraints on delta^{d,LR,RL}_{12}.
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Resummation of tan-beta-enhanced supersymmetric loop corrections beyond the decoupling limit
We study the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with Minimal Flavour Violation for the case of a large parameter tanbeta and arbitrary values of the supersymmetric mass parameters. We derive several resummation formulae for tanbeta-enhanced loop corrections, which were previously only known in the limit of supersymmetric masses far above the electroweak scale. Studying first the renormalisation-scheme dependence of the resummation formula for the bottom Yukawa coupling, we clarify the use of the sbottom mixing angle in the supersymmetric loop factor Delta_b. As a new feature, we find tan-beta-enhanced loop-induced flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) couplings of gluinos and neutralinos which in turn give rise to new effects in the renormalisation of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix and in FCNC processes of B mesons. For the chromomagnetic Wilson coefficient C_8, these gluino-squark loops can be of the same size as the known chargino-squark contribution. We discuss the phenomenological consequences for the mixing-induced CP asymmetry in B_d -> phi K_S. We further quote formulae for B_s -> mu^+ mu^- and B_s-B_s-bar mixing valid beyond the decoupling limit and find a new contribution affecting the phase of the B_s-B_s-bar mixing amplitude. Our resummed tan-beta-enhanced effects are cast into Feynman rules permitting an easy implementation in automatic calculations.
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