We study possible effects of a light CP-odd Higgs boson on radiative Upsilon decays in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Recent constraints from CLEO on radiative Upsilon(1S) decays are translated into constraints on the parameter space of CP-odd Higgs boson masses and couplings, and compared to constraints from B physics and the muon anomalous magnetic moment. Possible Higgs - eta_b(nS) mixing effects are discussed, notably in the light of the recent measurement of the eta_b(1S) mass by Babar: The somewhat large Upsilon(1S) - eta_b(1S) hyperfine splitting could easily be explained by the presence of a CP-odd Higgs boson with a mass in the range 9.4 - 10.5 GeV. Then, tests of lepton universality in inclusive radiative Upsilon decays can provide a visible signal in forthcoming experimental data.
One of the interesting properties of the NMSSM is that it can accommodate a light pseudoscalar of order 10 GeV. However, such scenarios are challenged by several experimental constraints, especially those related to the fermionic decays of the pseudoscalar. In this Letter, we extend the NMSSM field content by two gauge singlets, with lepton numbers +1 and -1. This serves the twin purpose of generating neutrino masses via the inverse see-saw mechanism and keeping the option of a very light pseudoscalar experimentally viable by opening dominant invisible decay channels of the pseudoscalar which …
We study the associated production of a very light pseudoscalar Higgs boson with a pair of charginos. The novel signature involves a pair of charged leptons from chargino decays and a pair of photons from the pseudoscalar Higgs boson decay, plus large missing energy at the LHC and ILC. The signal may help us to distinguish the NMSSM from MSSM, provided that the experiment can resolve the two photons from the decay of the pseudoscalar Higgs boson.
In the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM), the unique $λS H_u H_d$ in the superpotential gives rise to a coupling involving the lighter pseudoscalar Higgs boson and a pair of charged or neutral Higgsinos, even in the limit of zero mixing between the two pseudoscalar Higgs bosons. We study the associated production of a very light pseudoscalar Higgs boson with a pair of charginos. The novel signature involves a pair of charged leptons from chargino decays and a pair of photons from the pseudoscalar Higgs boson decay, plus large missing energy at the LHC and ILC. The signal ma…
We study the potential of radiative decays of the Upsilon(1S) and of the phi mesons to search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson, proposed as a possible interpretation of Sigma+ --> p mu+mu- events observed by the HyperCP collaboration at Fermilab. We conclude that the detection of this signal should certainly be possible with the current CLEO Upsilon(1S) data, and is within the reach of KLOE in at least part of the range of couplings suggested by the HyperCP findings.
After the discovery of the 125 GeV Higgs boson, the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) has become more interesting as a model for new physics since new tree-level contributions to the Higgs mass makes it easier to accommodate the relatively high measured value, as compared to the MSSM. One very distinctive feature of the NMSSM is the possible existence of a light singlet-like pseudoscalar. As this pseudoscalar may be lighter than the discovered Higgs boson without conflict with data, it may lead to LHC signatures rather different to what is usually searched for in terms of n…
While most BSM searches at the LHC focus on heavy new states, the NMSSM contains the possibility of new light states that have escaped detection due to their singlet nature. Here we focus on light pseudoscalars, investigating the parameter space impact of recent LHC searches for such light states stemming from the decay of the 125 GeV Higgs boson. It is shown that, though direct searches can not yet compete with the requirement of the 125 GeV scalar having SM-like couplings, the searches are touching the allowed parameter space and should make a phenomenological impact in the near future.
The discovery of a light, singlet-like pseudoscalar Higgs boson, $A_1$, of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) could provide a hallmark signature of non-minimal supersymmetry. We review here the potential of the LHC to probe such a light $A_1$ in the decays of one of the heavier scalar Higgs bosons of the NMSSM. We find the production of pairs of the $A_1$, with a mass below 60 GeV or so, via decays of the two lightest scalar states to be especially promising, for an integrated luminosity as low as 30/fb. For heavier masses, the decay of the heaviest scalar into a $Z$ bos…
The Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) contains a singlet-like pseudoscalar Higgs boson in addition to the doublet-like pseudoscalar of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. This new pseudoscalar can have a very low mass without violating the LEP exclusion constraints and it can potentially provide a hallmark signature of non-minimal supersymmetry at the LHC. In this analysis we revisit the light pseudoscalar in the NMSSM with partial universality at some high unification scale. We delineate the regions of the model's parameter space that are consistent with the up-to-d…
We revisit the light pseudoscalar $A_1$ in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with partial universality at some high unification scale in order to delineate the parameter space regions consistent with up-to-date theoretical and experimental constraints and examine to what extent this state can be probed by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during Run 2. We find that it can be accessible through a variety of signatures proceeding via $A_1\to τ^+τ^-$ and/or $b\bar b$, the former assuming hadronic decays and the latter two $b$-tags within a fat jet or two separate slim ones. …
The excess of events in the diphoton final state near 750 GeV observed by ATLAS and CMS can be explained within the NMSSM near the R-symmetry limit. Both scalars beyond the Standard Model Higgs boson have masses near 750 GeV, mix strongly, and share sizeable production cross sections in association with b-quarks as well as branching fractions into a pair of very light pseudoscalars. Pseudoscalars with a mass of ~ 210 MeV decay into collimated diphotons, whereas pseudoscalars with a mass of ~ 500-550 MeV can decay either into collimated diphotons or into three pi^0 resulting in collimated photo…
In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the presence of light pseudoscalars can have a dramatic effect on the decays of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson. These pseudoscalars are naturally light if supersymmetry breaking preserves an approximate U(1)_R symmetry, spontaneously broken when the Higgs bosons take on their expectation values. We investigate two classes of theories that possess such an approximate U(1)_R at the mediation scale: deformations of gauge and gaugino mediation. In the models we consider, we find two disjoint classes of phenomenologically allowed pa…
In this paper we briefly review the LHC discovery potential of a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson of the NMSSM, $a_1$, produced in the gluon fusion $gg\to a_1$ , bottom-quark fusion $b\bar b\to a_1$ and bottom-gluon fusion $bg\to ba_1$. We also review the LHC discovery potential of the next-to-lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h_2$ being the non-SM-like Higgs, decaying either into two light CP-odd Higgs bosons $a_1 a_1$ or into a light $a_1$ and the $Z$ gauge boson through the gluon fusion $gg \to h_2$ in the 4$τ$ final state. We find that the light $a_1$ can be detected at the LHC in a variety of p…
Completely natural electroweak symmetry breaking is easily achieved in supersymmetric models if there is a SM-like Higgs boson, $h$, with $m_h\lsim 100\gev$. In the minimal supersymmetric model, such an $h$ decays mainly to $b\anti b$ and is ruled out by LEP constraints. However, if the MSSM Higgs sector is expanded so that $h$ decays mainly to still lighter Higgs bosons, e.g. $h\to aa$, with $BR(h\to aa)>0.7$, and if $m_a<2m_b$, then the LEP constraints are satisfied. In this letter, we show that in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model the above $h$ and $a$ properties (for the lightest CP…
We propose an experimental test of a scenario in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in which both the lightest scalar and the lightest pseudoscalar Higgs bosons have masses around 125 GeV. The pseudoscalar can contribute significantly to the gamma.gamma rate at the LHC due to light Higgsino-like charginos in its effective one-loop coupling to two photons. Such charginos are obtained for small values of the mu_eff parameter which also results in enhanced b.b-bar and tau+.tau- rates compared to those expected for a Standard Model Higgs boson. This scenario should result in a clear…
A popular regime in the NMSSM parameter space involves a light CP-odd Higgs $A_1$. This scenario has consequences for e.g. light singlino Dark Matter annihilating in the $A_1$-funnel. In order to confront the pseudoscalar to experimental limits such as flavour observables, Upsilon decays or Beam-Dump experiments, it is necessary to control the interactions of this particle with hadronic matter and derive the corresponding decays. The partonic description cannot be relied upon for masses close to $m_{A_1}\sim1$GeV and we employ a chiral lagrangian, then extended to a spectator model for somewha…
In this article we propose a simultaneous collider search strategy for a pair of scalar bosons in the NMSSM through the decays of a very light pseudoscalar. The massive scalar has a mass around 126 GeV while the lighter one can have a mass in the vicinity of 98 GeV (thus explaining an apparent LEP excess) or be much lighter. The successive decay of this scalar pair into two light pseudoscalars, followed by leptonic pseudoscalar decays, produces clean multi-lepton final states with small or no missing energy. Furthermore, this analysis offers an alternate leptonic probe for the 126 GeV scalar t…
A detection at the Large Hadron Collider of a light Higgs pseudoscalar would, if interpreted in a supersymmetric framework, be a smoking gun signature of non-minimal supersymmetry. In this work in the framework of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model we focus on vector boson fusion and Higgs-strahlung production of heavier scalars that subsequently decay into pairs of light pseudoscalars. We demonstrate that although these channels have in general very limited reach, they are viable for the detection of light pseudoscalars in some parts of parameter space and can serve as an impor…
We explore the detection possibility of light pseudoscalar Higgs boson in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model(NMSSM) at the LHC with the center of mass energy, $\sqrt{S}=13$ TeV. We focus on the parameter space which provides one of the Higgs boson as the SM-like with a mass of 125 GeV and some of the non-SM-like Higgs bosons can be light having suppressed couplings with fermions and gauge bosons due to their singlet nature. It is observed that for certain region of model parameter space, the singlet like light pseudoscalar can decay to di-photon($γγ$) channel with a substantial …
We investigate signatures induced by a very light pseudoscalar Higgs in neutralino decays in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) and determine their observability at the LHC. We concentrate on scenarios which feature two light scalar Higgs bosons (one of them is SM-like with a mass of 125 GeV and a singlet-like lighter one) with a very light (singlet-like) pseudoscalar Higgs in the mass range 2m_tau < m_a1 < 2m_b. We consider neutralino-chargino pair production and the subsequent decay X_{2,3}-> X_1 a1, which leads to topologies involving multi-leptons and missing transve…
We study a class of realizations of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model that is motivated by dark matter and Higgs data, and in which the lightest pseudoscalar Higgs boson mass is smaller than twice the bottom quark mass and greater than twice the tau lepton mass. In such scenarios, the lightest pseudoscalar Higgs boson can be copiously produced at the LHC from the decay of heavier superpartners and will dominantly further decay into a pair of tau leptons that is generally boosted. We make use of a boosted object tagging technique designed to tag such a ditau jet, and estimate th…
We propose an NMSSM scenario that can explain the excess in the diphoton spectrum at 750 GeV recently observed by ATLAS and CMS. We show that in a certain limit with a very light pseudoscalar one can reproduce the experimental results without invoking exotic matter. The 750 GeV excess is produced by two resonant heavy Higgs bosons with masses ~750 GeV, that subsequently decay to two light pseudoscalars. Each of these decays to collimated photon pairs that appear as a single photon in the electromagnetic calorimeter. A mass gap between heavy Higgses mimics a large width of the 750 GeV peak. The…
We explore the Higgs sector of the NMSSM in the limit when the Peccei--Quinn symmetry is exact or only slightly broken. In this case the Higgs spectrum has a hierarchical structure which is caused by the stability of the physical vacuum. We find a strong correlation between the parameters of the NMSSM if $κ=0$ or $κ\lesssim λ^2$. It allows one to distinguish the NMSSM with exact or softly broken PQ-symmetry from the MSSM even when extra scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs states escape direct detection.
The discovery potential of light pseudo scalar Higgs boson for the mass range 10-60 GeV is explored. In the context of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard(NMSSM) model, the branching fraction of light pseudo scalar Higgs boson decaying to a pair of photon can be quite large. A pair of light pseudo scalar Higgs boson produced indirectly through the standard model Higgs boson decay yields multiple photons in the final state and the corresponding production rate is restricted by ATLAS data. Discussing the impact of this constraint in the NMSSM, the detection prospects of light pseudoscala…
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 complemen…
We provide a full one-loop calculation of the self energies and tadpoles of the neutral Higgs bosons of the NMSSM. In addition, we compute the two-loop O(alpha_t*alpha_s+alpha_b*alpha_s) corrections to the neutral Higgs boson masses in the effective potential approximation. With respect to earlier calculations, the newly-computed corrections can account for shifts of a few GeV in the light scalar and pseudoscalar masses, and they can also sizeably affect the mixing between singlet and MSSM-like Higgs scalars. Taking these corrections into account will be crucial for a meaningful comparison bet…
We explore the potential of the Large Hadron Collider to observe the h1 -> a1 a1 -> 4 muons signal from the lightest scalar Higgs boson (h1) decaying into the two lightest pseudoscalar Higgs bosons (a1), followed by their decays into four muons in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). The signature under study applies to the region of the NMSSM parameter space in which m_a1 < 2 m_tau, which has not been studied previously. In such a scenario, the suggested strategy of searching for a four-muon signal with the appropriate background suppression would provide a powerful meth…
We consider spontaneous CP violation in the Next to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, without the usual $Z_3$ discrete symmetry. CP violation can occur at tree level, raising a potential conflict with the experimental bounds on the electric dipole moments of the electron and neutron. One escape from this is to demand that the CP violating angles are small, but we find that this entails a light neutral Higgs particle. This is almost pseudoscalar, can have a high singlet content, and will be hard to detect experimentally.
We point out another important production channel of a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson $a_1$ via the decays of neutralinos, including $\widetildeχ_{2,3}^0 \to \widetildeχ_{1}^0 a_1$, in the framework of the NMSSM. We scan the whole parameter space using the most up-to-date version of NMHDECAY and search for regions where $B(\widetildeχ_{2,3}^0 \to \widetildeχ_{1}^0 a_1) > 0.5$. If the gluino and squarks are light enough for copious production of SUSY events at the LHC, there would be numerous number of $\widetildeχ_{2,3}^0$ in subsequent decays of gluinos and squarks. Therefore, the production …
Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model neutralino dark matter candidates in the (1-15) GeV range are found with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo scanning code. A very light, singlet-like Higgs and/or CP-odd Higgs is needed in order to achieve such light masses. Light scalar Higgses can yield large direct detection cross sections, suitable for an account of the recent claims for signals. Neutralino annihilations via resonant light pseudoscalar Higgs exchanges can overproduce the indirect yield of gamma-rays from dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Hence, direct and indirect detection experiments probe …
We consider the impact of several flavour-changing observables in the $B$- and the Kaon sectors on the parameter space of the NMSSM, in a minimal flavour violating version of this model. Our purpose consists in updating our previous results in arXiv:0710.3714 and designing an up-to-date flavour test for the public package NMSSMTools. We provide details concerning our implementation of the constraints in a series of brief reviews of the current status of the considered channels. Finally, we present a few consequences of these flavour constraints for the NMSSM, turning to two specific scenarios:…
We investigate the effects of the radiatively-generated tan beta-enhanced Higgs-singlet Yukawa couplings on the decay $Υ\to γA_1$ in the NMSSM, where $A_1$ is the lightest CP-odd scalar. This radiative coupling is found to dominate in the case of a highly singlet Higgs pseudoscalar. The branching ratio for the production of such a particle is shown to be within a few orders of magnitude of current experimental constraints across a significant region of parameter space. This represents a potentially observable signal for experiments at present B-factories.
In this work we examine the possible existence of new physics beyond the standard model which could modify the branching fractions of the leptonic (mainly tauonic) decays of bottomonium vector resonances below the $B\bar{B}$ threshold. The decay width is factorized as the product of two pieces: a) the probability of an intermediate pseudoscalar color-singlet $b\bar{b}$ state (coupling to the dominant Fock state of the Upsilon via a magnetic dipole transition) and a soft (undetected) photon; b) the annihilation width of the $b\bar{b}$ pair into two leptons, mediated by a non-standard CP-odd Hig…
We study some possible experimental consequences of new physics on the spectrum and decays of bottomonium states below $B\bar{B}$ threshold. In addition to lepton universality breaking in Upsilon decays, large widths of pseudoscalar $η_b$ resonances and mixing with a non-standard CP-odd light Higgs boson might smooth and shift the signal peak from hindered radiative M1 transitions between $Υ$ and $η_b$ states in the photon energy spectrum, as searched by CLEO. We also stress the relevance of forthcoming results from CLEO on leptonic branching fractions of $Υ$ resonances to definitely check our…
In the NMSSM, a light CP-odd Higgs arises due to spontaneous breaking of approximate symmetries such as Peccei-Quinn or R-symmetry and is motivated by string theory. The case when it is heavier than two muons is well studied and constrained. We analyze various meson decay, g-2, beam dump and reactor bounds on the CP-odd Higgs with mass below the muon threshold, in particular, addressing the question how light a CP-odd Higgs can be. We find that it has to be heavier than 210 MeV or have couplings to fermions 4 orders of magnitude below those of the Standard Model Higgs. Our analysis applies mor…
In the next-to-minimal supersymmetric (NMS) Standard Model (SM), it is possible for either one of the additional singlet-like scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons to be almost degenerate in mass with the ~125 GeV SM-like Higgs state. In the real NMSSM (rNMSSM), when the mass difference between two scalar states is comparable to their individual total decay widths, the quantum mechanical interference, due to the relevant diagonal as well as off-diagonal terms in the propagator matrix, between them can become sizable. This possibility invalidates usage of the narrow width approximation (NWA) to …
We discuss the partial width of the pseudoscalar charmonium state eta_c and bottomonium state eta_b into two photons. Predictions from potential models are examined and compared with experimental values for the eta_c case. Through the NRQCD factorisation procedure results for eta_c are also compared with those from J/psi data, and results for eta_b to the Upsilon decay data.
We study the possibility of constructing the NMSSM from the heterotic string. String derived NMSSMs are much more rare than MSSMs due to the extra requirement that there exist a light singlet which couples to the Higgs pairs. They share the common feature that the singlet self-interactions are typically suppressed, leading to either the "decoupling" or the Peccei-Quinn limit of the NMSSM. In the latter case, the spectrum contains a light pseudoscalar which may be relevant to the MSSM fine-tuning problem. We provide a Z_6 heterotic orbifold example of the NMSSM with approximate Peccei-Quinn sym…
Neutralino dark matter is generally assumed to be relatively heavy, with a mass near the electroweak scale. This does not necessarily need to be the case, however. In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) and other supersymmetric models with an extended Higgs sector, a very light CP-odd Higgs boson can naturally arise making it possible for a very light neutralino to annihilate efficiently enough to avoid being overproduced in the early Universe. In this article, we explore the characteristics of a supersymmetric model needed to include a very light neutralino, 100 MeV $< \…
In this talk I discuss some aspects of the phenomenology of a moderately light charged Higgs ($H^\pm$) with a mass $\gts 130$ GeV, lighter than the top quark, at the LHC. A charged Higgs in this mass range is still allowed in next-to-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) at low $\tan β$ as well as in CP-violating (\cp) Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) for a certain choice of \cp parameters, still respecting all the LEP-II bounds. In both the cases, the $H^\pm$ has a large branching ratio in the $W^\pm ϕ$ channel, where $ϕ$ denotes a generic Higgs which is dominantly pseudos…
R-parity violation modifies the phenomenology of supersymmetric models considerably. We study a version of NMSSM, which contains right-handed neutrinos and in which spontaneous R-parity violation is possible. We study the ensuing effects of spontaneous breaking to the Higgs decay modes, taking into account the measured mass of the Higgs boson and experimental constraints, including rare decays. We find that a possible light scalar, dominantly a sneutrino, helps to increase the Standard Model (SM) Higgs-like scalar mass to the measured value. At the same time, a lighter stop than in the MSSM is…
We investigate how the addition of the singlet Higgs field in the NMSSM changes the sfermion branching ratios as compared to the MSSM. We concentrate in particular on the third generation, discussing decays of the heavier stop, sbottom or stau into the lighter mass eigenstate plus a scalar or pseudoscalar singlet Higgs. We also analyse stop, sbottom and stau decays into singlinos. It turns out that the branching ratios of these decays can be large, markedly influencing the sfermion phenomenology in the NMSSM. Moreover, we consider decays of first and second generation sfermions into singlinos.
The effect of isoscalar S-wave multichannel pi pi -> pi pi, K antiK, eta eta scattering is considered in the analysis of decay data of the Upsilon-mesons. We show that when allowing for the final state interaction contribution to the decays Upsilon(mS) -> Upsilon(nS) pi pi (m>n, m=2,3, n=1,2) in our model-independent approach, we can explain the two-pion energetic spectra of these Upsilon transitions including the two-humped shape of the di-pion mass distribution in Upsilon(3S) -> Upsilon(1S) pi pi as the coupled-channel effect. It is shown also that the considered bottomia decay data do not o…
We determine the allowed parameter space and the particle spectra of the minimal SUSY standard model (MSSM) and nonminimal SUSY standard model (NMSSM) imposing correct electroweak gauge-symmetry breaking and recent experimental constraints. The parameters of the models are evolved with the SUSY RGEs assuming universality at the GUT scale. Applying the new unbounded from below (UFB) constraints we can exclude the LSP singlinos and light scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs singlets of the NMSSM. This exclusion removes the experimental possibility to distinguish between the MSSM and NMSSM via the recen…
We investigate the low energy phenomenology of the lighter pseudoscalar $A_1^0$ in the NMSSM. The $A_1^0$ mass can naturally be small due to a global $U(1)_R$ symmetry of the Higgs potential, which is only broken by trilinear soft terms. The $A_1^0$ mass is further protected from renormalization group effects in the large $\tan β$ limit. We calculate the $b \to s A_1^0$ amplitude at leading order in $\tan β$ and work out the contributions to rare $K$, $B$ and radiative $Υ$-decays and $B -\bar B$ mixing. We obtain constraints on the $A_1^0$ mass and couplings and show that masses down to ${\cal…
The new minimal supersymmetric standard model (nMSSM), a variant of the general next to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) without $Z_3$ symmetry, features a naturally light singlino with a mass below 75 GeV. In light of the new constraints from LHC Run-1 on the Higgs couplings, sparticles searches and flavour observables, we define the parameter space of the model which is compatible with both collider and dark matter (DM) properties. Among the regions compatible with these constraints, implemented through NMSSMTools, SModelS and MadAnalysis 5, only one with a singlino lightest sup…
We explore a scenario in the Next-to-Minimal-Supersymmetric-Standard-Model (NMSSM) with both a light O(10) GeV neutralino and a CP-odd Higgs boson with significant coupling to down-type fermions, evading all current B physics, LEP and WMAP bounds. Motivated by a possible slight lepton universality breaking hinted in Upsilon decays, we consider the effect of the mixing of eta(b) resonances with the pseudoscalar Higgs on the spin-dependent scattering neutralino cross section off nucleons. We conclude that this mechanism could be relevant provided that non-perturbative effects enhance the effecti…
We study the potential of the h_1 -> a_1 a_1 -> 4 tau signal from the lightest scalar (h_1) and pseudoscalar (a_1) Higgs bosons to cover the parameter space of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We exploit a 2 mu + 2 jets signature from four taus decays (accompanied by missing transverse energy), resorting to both Higgs-strahlung (HS), by triggering on leptonic W^\pm decays, and Vector Boson Fusion (VBF), by triggering on two same sign non-isolated muons.
We have previously proposed a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM), the A_1^0, as a candidate to explain the HyperCP observations in Sigma^+ -> p mu^+ mu^-. In this paper we calculate the rates for several other rare decay modes that can help confirm or refute this hypothesis. The first modes we evaluate are K_L -> pi pi A_1^0, which are interesting because they are under study by the KTeV Collaboration. We next turn to eta -> pi pi A_1^0, which are interesting because they are independent of the details of the flavor-changing sector of th…
In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), it is possible to have strong mass degeneracies between the new singlet-like scalar and the heavy doublet-like scalar, as well as between the singlet-like and doublet-like pseudoscalar Higgs states. When the difference in the masses of such states is comparable with the sum of their widths, the quantum mechanical interference between their propagators can become significant. We study these effects by taking into account the full Higgs boson propagator matrix in the calculation of the production process of $τ^+τ^-$ pairs in gluon fus…
The motivations for the NMSSM are reviewed, and possible unconventional signals for Higgs and sparticle production at the LHC are discussed. In the presence of a light pseudoscalar, the SM-like Higgs scalar can decay dominantly into a 4-tau final state. In the fully constrained NMSSM with mSUGRA-like soft SUSY breaking terms, the correct dark matter relic density is obtained for a singlino-like LSP which modifies considerably all sparticle decay chains.
We present a solution to the gravitino problem, which arises in the NMSSM, allowing for sparticle spectra from ordinary gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking with weak-scale gravitino dark matter. The coupling, which links the singlet to the MSSM sector, enhances the tree-level Higgs mass, providing an attractive explanation why the observed Higgs boson is so heavy. The same coupling induces very efficient pair-annihilation processes of the neutralino NLSP. Its relic abundance can be sufficiently suppressed to satisfy the strong constraints on late decaying relics from primordial nucleosynth…
In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) a variety of parameter configurations yields a Higgs boson consistent with the one observed at the LHC. Additionally, the Higgs sector of the model can contain explicit CP-violating phases even at the tree level, in contrast with the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). In this article we present the one-loop Higgs boson mass matrix of the complex NMSSM in the renormalisation-group-improved effective potential approach. We also present the trilinear Higgs boson self-couplings as well as various partial decay widths of a gene…
We consider the lambda-SUSY model, a version of the NMSSM with large lambda H_1 H_2 S coupling, relaxing the approximation of large singlet mass and negligible mixing of the scalar singlet with the scalar doublets. We show that there are regions of the parameter space in which the lightest pseudoscalar can be relatively light, with unusual consequences on the decay pattern of the CP-even Higgs bosons and thus on the LHC phenomenology.
We investigate an extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) containing a $SU(2)$ Higgs triplet of zero hypercharge and a gauge singlet. We focus on a scenario of this model which allows a light pseudoscalar and/or a scalar below $100$ GeV in the spectrum, consistent with the most recent data from the LHC and the earlier data from the LEP experiments. The triplet extension gives rise to two additional charged Higgs bosons which do not couple to fermions but can decay into $Z W^\pm$. The presence of a very light pseudoscalar opens $a_1 W^\pm$ decay mode for the light charged …
In two recent papers (arXiv:1002.1971 [hep-ph] and arXiv:0911.2460 [hep-ph]) Dermisek and Gunion provide new constraints on a light CP-odd Higgs boson in the framework of the NMSSM (or similar models) based on experimental data from LEP, CLEO, BaBar and CDF experiments. In this brief comment we argue that special care is still needed inside a narrow mass window where mixing with $η_b$ resonances below $B\bar{B}$ can occur. We also stress that observables testing lepton universality and a possible distorsion of the bottomonium mass spectrum can provide an alternative analysis at (Super) B-facto…
In the Next--To--Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), the Higgs and neutralino/chargino sectors are strongly correlated by four common parameters at tree level. Therefore we analyze the experimental data from both the search for Higgs bosons as well as for neutralinos and charginos at LEP 100 in order to constrain the parameter space and the masses of the neutral Higgs particles in the NMSSM. We find that small singlet vacuum expectation values are ruled out, but a massless neutral Higgs scalar and pseudoscalar is not excluded for most of the parameter space of the NMSSM. Improved li…
psi and Upsilon decays may be used to search for light neutral spin-1 or spin-0 bosons associated with a broken extra-U(1) symmetry, local or global, acting axially on quarks and leptons, as may be present in supersymmetric theories with a lambda H_1 H_2 S superpotential term. Recent data on Upsilon --> gamma + invisible neutral constrain an axial, pseudoscalar or scalar coupling to b to f_bA < 4 10^-7 m_U(MeV)/ sqrt B_inv, f_bP < 4 10^-3/ sqrt B_inv or f_bS < 6 10^-3/ sqrt B_inv, respectively. This also constrains, from universality properties, couplings to electrons to f_eA < 4 10^-7 m_U(MeV…
Hidden sector particles with sub-GeV masses like hidden U(1) gauge bosons, the NMSSM CP-odd Higgs, and other axion-like particles are experimentally little constrained as they interact only very weakly with the visible sector. For masses below the muon threshold, we present constraints from meson decays, g - 2 as well as beam-dump and reactor experiments. The NMSSM CP-odd Higgs and generally any pseudoscalar is required to be heavier than 210 MeV or couple to fermions much weaker than the SM Higgs. Hidden photons are less constrained and can be searched for at future fixed-target experiments, …
Bottomonium S-wave states were studied using lattice NRQCD. Masses of ground and excited states were calculated using multiexponential fitting to a set of correlation functions constructed using both local and wavefunction-smeared operators. Three-point functions for M1 transitions between vector and pseudoscalar states were computed. Robust signals for transitions involving the first two excited states were obtained. The qualitative features of the transition matrix elements are in agreement with expectations. The calculated values of matrix elements for Y(2S) and Y(3S) decay are considerably…
