The branching fraction for the decays of gluinos to third generation quarks is expected to be enhanced in classes of supersymmetric models where either third generation squarks are lighter than other squarks, or in mixed-higgsino dark matter models constructed to be in concordance with the measured density of cold dark matter. In such scenarios, gluino production events at the CERN Large Hadron Collider should be rich in top and bottom quark jets. Requiring b-jets in addition to missing transverse energy should, therefore, enhance the supersymmetry signal relative to Standard Model backgrounds from V + jet, VV and QCD backgrounds (V=W, Z). We quantify the increase in the supersymmetry reach of the LHC from b-tagging in a variety of well-motivated models of supersymmetry. We also explore ``top-tagging'' at the LHC. We find that while the efficiency for this turns out to be too low to give an increase in reach beyond that obtained via b-tagging, top-tagging can indeed provide a confirmatory signal if gluinos are not too heavy. Finally, we explore the prospects for detecting the direct production of third generation squarks in models with an inverted squark mass hierarchy. This is signalled by b-jets + missing transverse energy events harder than in the Standard Model, but softer than those from the production of gluinos and heavier squarks. We find that while these events can be readily separated from SM background (for third generation squark masses ~300-500 GeV), the contamination from the much heavier gluinos and squarks remains formidable if these are also accessible.
We present a theoretical review of the possibilities offered by heavy flavour tagging in testing QCD features in 4-jet events at LEP1. Attention is focused mainly on the properties of the angular variables which are used in the experimental analyses to measure the colour factors of the strong interactions. We also comment on a possible settlement of the ongoing controversy about the existence in LEP1 data of SUSY events involving light gluinos. Integrated and differential rates of interest to phenomenological analyses are given and various tagging procedures are discussed.
We search for lepton flavour violating couplings via doubly charged bilepton (or doubly charged Higgs) exchange in electron-positron annihilation process $ \text{e}^{+}\text{e}^{-}\to μ^{+}μ^{-}, τ^{+}τ^{-}$ using CERN LEP data at the center of mass energies between 189-207 GeV. Standard model program ZFITTER has been used to calculate radiative corrections. We find that $g_{L}^{2}/M_{L}^{2}<O(10^{-6})GeV^{-2}$ at 95% C.L. for flavour violating scalar and vector bilepton couplings.
In this work we discuss how the loss of particle-antiparticle identity due to CPT violation affects the observables in the decay of two neutral EPR-correlated $B$-mesons. We study this possible new effect in the context of equal-sign flavour specific decays and we find a considerable modification in the $Δt$-dependence of the equal-sign dilepton charge asymmetry, $A_{sl}$. Although the more important changes occur right outside the $\Dt$ region that has been up-to-the-date effectively explored, we show that a deeper experimental research may be able to distinguish a possible existence of this …
Assuming that supersymmetry is realized with parameters in the hyperbolic branch/focus point (HB/FP) region of the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model, we show that by searching for multijet + missing E_T events with tagged b jets the reach of experiments at the LHC may be extended by as much as 20% from current projections. The reason for this is that gluino decays to third generation quarks are enhanced because the lightest neutralino has substantial higgsino components. Although we were motivated to perform this analysis because the HB/FP region is compatible with the recent determination o…
Heavy flavour jet tagging is widely used in the determination of cross sections including the production of heavy flavoured quarks. This requires the knowledge of heavy and light flavour jet tagging efficiencies and their uncertainties. A system of eight non-linear equations can be used to determine these quantities by means of two different tagging algorithms and two data sets which differ in heavy flavour jet content. The analytical solution of this system of equations, derived by means of resultants is described in detail, including a discussion about its singularities which provide importa…
In these three lectures, I overview the theoretical framework of the flavour physics and CP violation. The first lecture is the introduction to the flavour physics. Namely, I give theoretical basics of the weak interaction. I follow also some historical aspect, discovery of the CP violation, phenomenological studies of charged and neutral currents and the success of the GIM mechanism. In the second lecture, I describe the flavour physics and CP violating phenomena in the Standard Model (SM). I also give the latest experimental observation of the CP Violation at the B factories and the LHC and …
Zt and gamma t production with Z -> l+ l- and t -> Wb -> l nu b provides the best determination of top flavour-changing neutral couplings at the LHC. The bounds on tc couplings eventually derived from these processes are similar to those expected from top decays, while the limits on tu couplings are better by a factor of two. The other significant Z and W decay modes are also investigated.
Jet flavour identification algorithms are of paramount importance to maximise the physics potential of future collider experiments. This work describes a novel set of tools allowing for a realistic simulation and reconstruction of particle level observables that are necessary ingredients to jet flavour identification. An algorithm for reconstructing the track parameters and covariance matrix of charged particles for an arbitrary tracking sub-detector geometries has been developed. Additional modules allowing for particle identification using time-of-flight and ionizing energy loss information …
Top decays into a light Higgs boson and an up or charm quark can reach detectable levels in Standard Model extensions with two Higgs doublets or with new exotic quarks, and in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Using both a standard and a neural network analysis we show that the CERN Large Hadron Collider will give 3 sigma evidence of decays with Br(t -> Hc) >= 6.5 10^-5 or set a limit Br(t -> Hc) <= 4.5 10^-5 with a 95% confidence level if these decays are not observed. We also consider limits obtained from single top production associated with a neutral Higgs boson.
We study the supersymmetric version of the type-II seesaw mechanism assuming minimal supergravity boundary conditions. We calculate branching ratios for lepton flavour violating (LFV) scalar tau decays, potentially observable at the LHC, as well as LFV decays at low energy, such as $l_i \to l_j + γ$ and compare their sensitivity to the unknown seesaw parameters. In the minimal case of only one triplet coupling to the standard model lepton doublets, ratios of LFV branching ratios can be related unambigously to neutrino oscillation parameters. We also discuss how measurements of soft SUSY breaki…
We discuss the demise of flavour tagging due to the loss of the particle-antiparticle identity of neutral B-mesons in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlated states. Such a situation occurs in cases where the CPT operator is ill-defined, as happens, for example, in quantum gravity models with induced decoherence in the matter sector. The time evolution of the perturbed B0-B0bar initial state, as produced in B-factories, is sufficient to generate new two-body states. For flavour specific decays at equal times, we discuss two definite tests of the two body entanglement: (i) search for the would-b…
The most general supersymmetric seesaw mechanism has too many parameters to be predictive and thus can not be excluded by any measurements of lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes. We focus on the simplest version of the type-I seesaw mechanism assuming minimal supergravity boundary conditions. We compute branching ratios for the LFV scalar tau decays, ${\tilde τ}_2 \to (e,μ) + χ^0_1$, as well as loop-induced LFV decays at low energy, such as $l_i \to l_j + γ$ and $l_i \to 3 l_j$, exploring their sensitivity to the unknown seesaw parameters. We find some simple, extreme scenarios for the un…
We explore the potential of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to access a strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector via weak boson scattering with WWjj, ZZjj and WZjj final states. As examples of models with scalar or vector resonances we concentrate on a scenario with a heavy Higgs boson and on a Warped Higgsless Kaluza-Klein model of narrow spin-one resonances. The signal and the most prominent background processes are evaluated using exact tree-level matrix elements including full off-shell and finite width effects for final states with two tagging jets and four leptons. Using …
In this thesis we discuss the combined effects of strong and electroweak FCNC effective operators in top quark physics at the CERN LHC and lepton flavour violation at the ILC with dimension six effective operators.
We develop a jet flavour tagger in the contest of electroweak boson production in association with jets. Here the jet with the highest transverse momentum is considered and a simple cut on a jet angularity may serve as a tagger for the flavour of the jet. This is an infrared and collinear (IRC) safe procedure thus it is well-defined from a theoretical viewpoint. Jet angularities exibit a property called Casimir Scaling (CS) at the leading logarithmic (LL) accuracy. Here we consider also the first deviation from the typical CS behaviour because we use the most recent jet angularities calculatio…
We present new sets of next-to-leading order fragmentation functions describing the production of charged pions, kaons and protons from the gluon and from each of the quarks, obtained by fitting to all relevant data sets from e+ e- annihilation. The individual light quark flavour fragmentation functions are obtained phenomenologically for the first time by including in the data the light quark tagging probabilities obtained by the OPAL Collaboration.
The production of the \sm\ Higgs $ϕ$ with intermediate mass at the proposed CERN LEP$\otimes$LHC $ep$ collider in $γq(\bar q)\rightarrow W^\pmϕq'(\bar q')$, $γq(\bar q)\rightarrow Z^0ϕq(\bar q)$ and $gγ\rightarrow q\bar qϕ$ events is studied. This is done for all possible (massive) flavours of the quarks $q(q')$ and using photons generated via Compton back--scattering of laser light. We study signatures in which the Higgs decays to $b\bar b$--pairs and the electroweak vector bosons $W^\pm$ and $Z^0$ decay either hadronically or leptonically. All possible backgrounds to these signals are also c…
Squark and gluino decays are governed by the same mixing matrices as the contributions to flavour violating loop transitions of B-mesons. This allows for possible direct correlations between flavour non-diagonal observables in B and high-p_T physics. The present bounds on squark mixing, induced by the low-energy data on b to s transitions, still allow for large contributions to flavour violating squark decays at tree level. Due to the restrictions in flavour tagging at the LHC, additional information from future flavour experiments will be necessary to interpret those LHC data properly. Also t…
Higgs boson production in association with two tagging jets will be mediated by electroweak vector boson fusion and by gluon fusion processes at the CERN LHC. The characteristic distributions for the gluon fusion process are analyzed for the $H\to W^+W^-$ signal at $m_H=160$ GeV, with subsequent leptonic decay of the $W$-pair. The dominant backgrounds from top-quark pair production, $WWjj$ production and vector boson fusion processes can be suppressed to a level of $S/B\approx 1/4$, yielding a highly significant gluon fusion signal with 30 fb$^{-1}$. Analysis of the azimuthal angle correlation…
We develop the phenomenology of scenarios in which a dark matter candidate interacts with a top quark through flavour-changing couplings, employing a simplified dark matter model with an s-channel vector-like mediator. We study in detail the top-charm flavour-changing interaction, by investigating the single top plus large missing energy signature at the LHC as well as constraints from the relic density and direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments. We present strategies to distinguish between the top-charm and top-up flavour-changing models by taking advantage of the lepton charge…
The production of the \mssm\ Higgs bosons $H^0,h^0,A^0$ and $H^\pm$, in the intermediate mass range of the $A^0$, at two different values of $\tanβ$, is studied at the possible CERN LEP$\otimes$LHC $ep$ collider, through $γp$ interactions, by photons generated via Compton back--scattering of laser light. Signatures in which $H^0,h^0,A^0\ar b\bar b$ and $H^\pm\ar τν_τ$ are considered. Flavour identification on $b$--jets is assumed. Backgrounds to Higgs signals are computed. Explicit formulae for the helicity amplitudes of the Higgs processes are given.
The mSUGRA parameter space corresponding to light sleptons well within the reach of LHC and relatively light squarks and gluinos (mass $\le$ 1 TeV) has three regions consistent with the WMAP data on dark matter relic density and direct mass bounds from LEP 2. Each region can lead to distinct leptonic signatures from squark-gluino events during the early LHC experiments (integrated luminosity $\sim 10 ~fb^{-1}$ or even smaller). In the much studied stau-LSP coannihilation region with a vanishing common trilinear coupling ($A_0$) at the GUT scale a large fraction of the final states contain elec…
After inserting the heavy quark mass dependence into QCD partonic evolution equations, we determine the mean charged hadron multiplicity and second multiplicity correlators of jets produced in high energy collisions. We thereby extend the so-called dead cone effect to the phenomenology of multiparticle production in QCD jets and find that the average multiplicity of heavy-quark initiated jets decreases significantly as compared to the massless case, even taking into account the weak decay products of the leading primary quark. We emphasize the relevance of our study as a complementary check of…
We calculate the next-to-leading-order cross section for the inclusive production of $Λ_b$ baryons in pp collisions in the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme. We use realistic evolved non-perturbative fragmentation functions obtained from fits to B-meson production in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation and compare our results for transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions with recent experimental data from the CMS and the LHCb collaborations at the CERN LHC. We find satisfactory agreement in general, with some indication for the need to modify the available fragmentation functions at larger va…
Heavy flavour tagging provides a broad range of possibilities in testing QCD features at LEP. We present here a study of 4jets events at LEP I where the so-called light gluinos could be directly produced. We show that microvertex techniques offer a unique chance to exploit simple kinematical distributions in order to optimise the signal coming from gluino production with respect to the background of ordinary QCD events. Our results indicate that experimental analyses along the lines suggested here can exclude or reveal the presence of a gluino for masses up to 10 GeV and lifetimes below 10$^{-…
We point out that the hypothesis of a SU(5)-like supersymmetric Grand Unified Theory (GUT) implies a generic relation within the flavour structure of up-type squarks. Contrary to other well-known SU(5) relations between the down-quark and charged lepton sectors, this relation remains exact in the presence of any corrections and extra operators. Moreover it remains valid to a good precision at the electroweak scale, and opens thus new possibilities for testing SU(5)-like GUTs. We derive the low-energy effective theory of observable light up-type squarks, that also constitutes a useful tool for …
The discovery of a heavy Higgs boson with mass up to m_H = 1 TeV at the CERN LHC is possible in the H--> W^+W^- --> l nu jj decay mode. The weak boson scattering signal and backgrounds from t\bar tjj and from W+jets production are analyzed with parton level Monte Carlo programs which are built on full tree level amplitudes for all subprocesses. The use of double jet tagging and the reconstruction of the W invariant mass reduce the combined backgrounds to the same level as the Higgs signal. A central mini-jet veto, which distinguishes the different gluon radiation patterns of the hard processes…
The requirement of t-b-τYukawa coupling unification is common in simple grand unified models based on the gauge group SO(10), and it also places a severe constraint on the expected spectrum of superpartners. For Yukawa-unified models with μ>0, the spectrum is characterized by three mass scales: {\it i}). first and second generation scalars in the multi-TeV range, {\it ii}). third generation scalars, μand m_A in the few-TeV range and {\it iii}). gluinos in the \sim 350-500 GeV range with chargino masses around 100-160 GeV. In such a scenario, gluino pair production should occur at large rates a…
A study of the top quark interactions via flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes provides an intriguing connection between the heaviest elementary particle of the standard model (SM) of particle physics and the new scalar bosons that are predicted in several notable SM extensions. The production cross sections of the processes with top-scalar FCNC interactions can be significantly enhanced to the observable level at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The present review summarizes the latest experimental results on the study of the top quark interactions with the Higgs boson via FCNC an…
The top flavour-changing neutral couplings can be large in extended models with vector-like quarks. In the next decade(s) the CERN Large Hadron Collider will allow to measure (bound) them with a precision of few per cent.
Within the $ν$MSSM, a Minimal Supersymmetric neutrino See-saw Model, Lepton Flavour Violating Higgs couplings are strongly enhanced at large $\tanβ$ ($\gsim30$), which can lead to BR$(H^0/A^0 \to τμ) \simeq O(10^{-4})$, for $M_{H^0/A^0}\gsim 160$ GeV. Enhancements on the production of Higgs bosons, through the gluon fusion mechanism, $gg\to H^0/A^0$, and the associated production channel $gg,q\bar q\to b\bar bH^0/A^0$, whose rates grow with $\tanβ$, as well as the mass degeneracy that occurs between the $H^0$ and $A^0$ states in this regime, also contribute to further the possibilities to dete…
Higgs boson production via weak boson fusion at the CERN Large Hadron Collider has the capability to determine the dominant CP nature of a Higgs boson, via the tensor structure of its coupling to weak bosons. This information is contained in the azimuthal angle distribution of the two outgoing forward tagging jets. The technique is independent of both the Higgs boson mass and the observed decay channel.
We elaborate on a recently found $SU(5)$ relation confined to the up-(s)quark flavour space, that remains immune to large quantum corrections up to the TeV scale. We investigate the possibilities opened by this new window on the GUT scale in order to find TeV-scale $SU(5)$ tests realizable at the LHC. We present a variety of tests, which appear as relations among observables involving flavour violation or chirality flips and rely on the techniques of top polarimetry, charm-tagging, or Higgs detection from cascade decays. We discuss the cases of natural Supersymmetry and top-charm Supersymmetry…
We elaborate on a recently found SU(5) relation confined to the up-(s)quark flavour space, that remains immune to large quantum corrections up to the TeV scale. We investigate the possibilities opened by this new window on the GUT scale in order to find TeV-scale SU(5) tests realizable at the LHC. These SU(5) tests appear as relations among observables involving either flavour violation or chirality flip in the up-(s)quark sector. The power of these tests is systematically evaluated using a frequentist, p-value based criterion. SU(5) tests in the Heavy supersymmetry (SUSY), Natural supersymmet…
We calculate the cross section for the production of a Z boson in association with heavy quarks. We suggest that this cross section can be measured using an inclusive heavy-quark tagging technique. This could be used as a feasibility study for the search for a Higgs boson produced in association with bottom quarks. We argue that the best formalism for calculating that cross section is based on the leading-order process b b -> h, and that it is valid for all Higgs masses of interest at both the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron Collider.
We calculate inclusive dijet production cross section in high energy hadron collisions within the BFKL resummation formalism for the QCD Pomeron. Unlike the previous calculations with the Pomeron developing only between tagging jets, we include also the Pomerons which are adjacent to the hadrons. With these adjacent Pomerons we define a new object --- the BFKL structure function of hadron --- which enables one to calculate the inclusive dijet production for any rapidity intervals. We present predictions for the K-factor and the azimuthal angle decorrelation in the inclusive dijet production fo…
We investigate the impact of the fourth generation quarks on production and decays of the charged Higgs boson at CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with triple $b$-tagging. The signal is the process $gg\to \bar{u_4}u_4$, followed by $\bar{u_4}\to W^{-} \bar{b}$ and $u_4\to h^{+} b$ decays with subsequent $h^{+}\to t \bar{b}$ and corresponding hermitic conjugates. It is shown that, if $m_{u_{4}}= 400$ GeV, considered process will provide unique opportunity to discover charged Higgs boson with mass range of 200 to 350 GeV at the first years of the LHC run.
At the Large Hadron Collider, we prove the feasibility to detect pair production of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h$ of Type II 2-Higgs Doublet Models through $q q^{(')}\to q q^{(')} {hh}$ (vector-boson fusion). We also show that, through the $hh\to 4b$ decay channel in presence of heavy-flavour tagging, further exploiting forward/backward jet sampling, one has direct access to the $λ_{Hhh}$ triple Higgs coupling -- which constrains the form of the Higgs potential.
We present predictions for the inclusive productions of the D meson originating from bottom hadrons at the CERN LHC in the general-mass variable-flavour-number scheme at next-to-leading order. We present results using two methods to describe the transition for $b\rightarrow D$: a two-step transition $b\rightarrow B \rightarrow D$, based on the $b\rightarrow B$ fragmentation functions and the spectra for $B\rightarrow D$ as measured by CLEO and a one-step transition based on the fragmentation functions for $b\rightarrow D$. The results of both approaches are compared.
We review the hadro-production data presently available on open charm and beauty absolute production cross-sections, collected by experiments at CERN, DESY and Fermilab. The published charm production cross-section values are updated, in particular for the "time evolution" of the branching ratios. These measurements are compared to LO pQCD calculations, as a function of the collision energy, using recent parametrisations of the parton distribution functions. We then estimate, including nuclear effects of the parton densities, the charm and beauty production cross-sections relevant for measurem…
The chromo-electromagnetic field is produced due to the motion of partons in a quark-gluon plasma created by relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The fluctuations in the produced chromo-electromagnetic field are important, since they cause heavy quarks to gain energy in the low velocity limit. We study the effect of such fluctuations on heavy quark diffusion in quark-gluon plasma within the framework of Langevin dynamics under the background matter described by the ($3+1$)-dimensional relativistic viscous hydrodynamics. Theoretical calculations of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$) of he…
With the completion of Run~I of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, particle physics has entered a new era. The production of unprecedented numbers of heavy-flavoured hadrons in high energy proton-proton collisions allows detailed studies of flavour-changing processes. The increasingly precise measurements allow to probe the Standard Model with a new level of accuracy. Rare $b$ hadron decays provide some of the most promising approaches for such tests, since there are several observables which can be cleanly interpreted from a theoretical viewpoint. In this article, the status and prospects in thi…
We study and compare the discovery potential for heavy neutral gauge bosons (Z') at the various $e^+e^-$ and $μ^+μ^-$ colliders that have been proposed. Typical search limits for the e^+e^- colliders are 2-10 times sqrt{s} with the large variation reflecting the model dependence of the limits. The search limits for the mu^+ mu^- colliders are slightly lower. Polarization and flavour tagging are important in realizing the highest discovery limits possible. Because the search limits are based on indirect inferences of deviations from standard model predictions, they are sensitive to systematic e…
Predictions for light charged hadron production data in the current fragmentation region of deeply inelastic scattering from the H1 and ZEUS experiments are calculated using perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics at next-to-leading order, and using fragmentation functions obtained by fitting to similar data from $e^+ e^-$ reactions. General good agreement is found when the magnitude $Q^2$ of the hard photon's virtuality is sufficiently large. The discrepancy at low $Q$ and small scaled momentum $x_p$ is reduced by incorporating mass effects of the detected hadron. By performing quark tagging, the…
This thesis demonstrate the efficacy of designing and developing machine learning (ML) algorithms to selected use cases that encompass many of the outstanding challenges in the field of experimental high energy physics. Although simple implementations of neural networks and boosted decision trees have been used in high energy physics for a long time, the field of ML has quickly evolved by devising more complex, fast and stable implementations of learning algorithms. The complexity and power of state-of-the-art deep learning far exceeds those of the learning algorithms implemented in the CERN-d…
We study the production of a neutral Higgs boson at a Future Circular Collider in the electron-hadron mode (FCC-eh) through the leading process $e^- p \to ν_e h q $ assuming the decay channel $h \to c \bar{c} $, where $h$ is the Standard Model (SM)-like state discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This process is studied in the context of a 2-Higgs Doublet Model Type III (2HDM-III) embedding a four-zero texture in the Yukawa matrices and a general Higgs potential, where both Higgs doublets are coupled with up- and down-type fermions. Flavour Changing Neutral Currents (FCNCs) are well c…
Based on the recent RHIC and LHC experimental results, the $\langle p_T\rangle$ dependence of identified light flavour charged hadrons on $\sqrt{(\frac{dN}{dy})/S_{\perp}}$, relevant scale in gluon saturation picture, is studied from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=7.7 GeV up to 5.02 TeV. This study is extended to the slopes of the $\langle p_T\rangle$ dependence on the particle mass and the $\langleβ_T\rangle$ parameter from Boltzmann-Gibbs Blast Wave (BGBW) fits of the $p_T$ spectra. A systematic decrease of the slope of the $\langle p_T\rangle$ dependence on $\sqrt{(\frac{dN}{dy})/S_{\perp}}$ from BES to t…
