arXiv subjects

V. Keus

Publications and source records attributed to V. Keus.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

A smoking gun signature of the 3HDM

We analyse new signals of a 3-Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) where only one doublet acquires a Vacuum Expectation Value (VEV), preserving a $Z_2$ parity. The other two doublets are \textit{inert} and do not develop a VEV, leading to a \textit{dark scalar sector} controlled by $Z_2$, with the lightest CP-even dark scalar $H_1$ being the Dark Matter (DM) candidate. This leads to the loop induced decay of the next-to-lightest scalar, $H_2 \to H_1 \ell \bar \ell $ ($\ell =e,\mu$), mediated by both dark CP-odd neutral and charged scalars. This is a smoking-gun signal of the 3HDM since it is not allowed in the 2-Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) with one inert doublet and is expected to be important when $H_2$ and $H_1$ are close in mass. In practice, this signature can be observed in the cascade decay of the SM-like Higgs boson, $h\to H_1 H_2\to H_1 H_1 \ell \bar \ell$ into two DM particles and di-leptons or $h\to H_2 H_2\to H_1 H_1 \ell \bar \ell \ell \bar \ell$ into two DM particles and four-leptons, where $h$ is produced from gluon-gluon Fusion. In order to test the feasibility of these channels at the LHC, we devise some benchmarks, compliant with collider, DM and cosmological data, for which the interplay between these production and decay modes is discussed. In particular, we show that the resulting detector signatures, $\Et \ell \bar \ell$ or $\Et \ell \bar \ell \ell \bar \ell$, with the invariant mass of $ \ell \bar \ell$ pairs much smaller than $m_Z$, can potentially be extracted already from Run 3 data and at the High-Luminosity phase of the LHC.

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arXiv2021

The $Z_3$ symmetric I(2+1)HDM

We introduce a 3-Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM) with two Inert (or dark) scalar doublets and an active Higgs one, hence termed I(2+1)HDM, in the presence of a discrete $Z_3$ symmetry acting upon the three doublet fields. We show that such a construct yields a Dark Matter (DM) sector with two mass-degenerate states of opposite CP parity, both of which contribute to DM dynamics, which we call \textit{Hermaphrodite DM}, distinguishable from a (single) complex DM candidate. We show that the relic density contributions of both states are equal, saturating the observed relic density compliant with (in)direct searches for DM as well as other experimental data impinging on both the dark and Higgs sectors of the model, chiefly, in the form of Electro-Weak Precision Observables (EWPOs), Standard Model (SM)-like Higgs boson measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and void searches for additional (pseudo)scalar states at the CERN machine and previous colliders.

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arXiv2020

Complementary Probes of Two-component Dark Matter

We study a $Z_2 \times Z'_2$ symmetric 3-Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM), wherein two of the doublets are inert and one is active (thus denoted in literature as I(2+1)HDM), yielding a two-component Dark Matter (DM) sector. The two DM candidates emerge as the lightest scalar component of a different inert doublet, each with a different odd discrete parity, and cooperate to achieve the correct relic density. When a sufficient mass difference exists between the two DM candidates, it is possible to test the presence of both in present and/or forthcoming facilities, as the corresponding masses are typically at the electroweak scale. Specifically, the light DM component can be probed by the nuclear recoil energy in direct detection experiments while the heavy DM component appears through the photon flux in indirect detection experiments. In fact, the DM mass sensitivity that the two experimental set-ups can achieve should be adequate to establish the presence of two different DM signals. This result has been obtained in the presence of a thorough theoretical analysis of the stability conditions of the vacuum structure emerging from our I(2+1)HDM construct, ensuring that the model configurations adopted are physical, and of up-to-date constraints coming from data collected by both space and ground experiments, ensuring that the coupling and mass spectra investigated are viable phenomenologically.

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arXiv2020

Lepton collider signatures of dark CP violation

We study an extension of the Standard Model (SM) in which two copies of the SM Higgs doublet are added to the scalar sector. These extra doublets do not develop a vacuum expectation value, hence, they are \textit{inert}. This essentially leads to a 3-Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM) with 2 inert and 1 active scalar doublets, which we denote as I(2+1)HDM. We allow for CP-violation in the \textit{inert} sector, where the lightest \textit{inert} state is protected from decaying to SM particles through the conservation of a $Z_2$ symmetry, so that it is a Dark Matter (DM) candidate. For this scenario, we identify a smoking gun signature of dark CP-violation in the form of production thresholds of pairs of \textit{inert} neutral Higgs bosons at an $e^+e^-$ collider.

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arXiv2020

Collider signatures of dark CP-violation

We study an extension of the Standard Model (SM) in which two copies of the SM-Higgs doublet which do not acquire a vacuum expectation value, and hence are {\it inert}, are added to the scalar sector. The lightest particle from the inert sector, which is protected from decaying to SM particles through the conservation of a $Z_2$ symmetry, is a viable dark matter candidate. We allow for CP-violation in this extended dark sector and evaluate the $ZZZ$ vertex and its CP-violating form factor in several benchmark scenarios. We provide collider signatures of this dark CP-violation in the form of potentially observable asymmetries and cross sections for the $f\bar f\to Z^*\to ZZ$ process at both leptonic and hadronic machines.

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arXiv2018

Dark Matter Signals at the LHC from a 3HDM

We analyse new signals of Dark Matter (DM) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a 3-Higgs Doublet Model (3HDM) where only one doublet acquires a Vacuum Expectation Value (VEV), preserving a parity $Z_2$. The other two doublets are \textit{inert} and do not develop a VEV, leading to a {\it dark scalar sector} controlled by $Z_2$, with the lightest CP-even dark scalar $H_1$ being the DM candidate. This leads to the loop induced decay of the next-to-lightest scalar, $H_2 \to H_1 f \bar f$ ($f=u,d,c,s,b,e,μ,τ$), mediated by both dark CP-odd and charged scalars. This is a smoking-gun signal of the 3HDM since it is not allowed in the 2HDM with one inert doublet and is expected to be important when $H_2$ and $H_1$ are close in mass. In practice, this signature can be observed in the cascade decay of the SM-like Higgs boson, $h\to H_1 H_2\to H_1 H_1 f \bar f$ into two DM particles and di-leptons/di-jets, where $h$ is produced from either gluon-gluon Fusion (ggF) or Vector Boson Fusion (VBF). However, this signal competes with the tree-level channel $q\bar q\to H_1H_1Z^*\to H_1H_1f \bar f$. We devise some benchmarks, compliant with collider, DM and cosmological data, for which the interplay between these modes is discussed. In particular, we show that the resulting detector signature, $\Et\; f \bar f$, with invariant mass of $ f \bar f$ much smaller than $m_Z$, can potentially be extracted already during Run 2 and 3. For example, the $H_2\to H_1γ^*$ and $γ^*\to e^+e^-$ case will give a spectacular QED mono-shower signal.

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arXiv2016

CP violating scalar Dark Matter

We study an extension of the Standard Model (SM) in which two copies of the SM scalar $SU(2)$ doublet which do not acquire a Vacuum Expectation Value (VEV), and hence are \textit{inert}, are added to the scalar sector. We allow for CP-violation in the \textit{inert} sector, where the lightest \textit{inert} state is protected from decaying to SM particles through the conservation of a $Z_2$ symmetry. The lightest neutral particle from the \textit{inert} sector, which has a mixed CP-charge due to CP-violation, is hence a Dark Matter (DM) candidate. We discuss the new regions of DM relic density opened up by CP-violation, and compare our results to the CP-conserving limit and the Inert Doublet Model (IDM). We constrain the parameter space of the CP-violating model using recent results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and DM direct and indirect detection experiments.

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arXiv2012

Z_p scalar dark matter from multi-Higgs-doublet models

In many models, stability of dark matter particles is protected by a conserved Z_2 quantum number. However dark matter can be stabilized by other discrete symmetry groups, and examples of such models with custom-tailored field content have been proposed. Here we show that electroweak symmetry breaking models with N Higgs doublets can readily accommodate scalar dark matter candidates stabilized by groups Z_p with any $p \le 2^{N-1}$, leading to a variety of kinds of microscopic dynamics in the dark sector. We give examples in which semi-annihilation or multiple semi-annihilation processes are allowed or forbidden, which can be especially interesting in the case of asymmetric dark matter.

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