23 pages, no figures. Based on invited lectures at the 46th Course at the International School of Subnuclear Physics- Erice -Sicily: 29 August -7 September, 2008
The existing data appears to provide hints of an underlying high scale theory. These arise from the gauge coupling unification, from the smallness of the neutrino masses, and via a non-vanishing muon anomaly. An overview of high scale models is given with a view to possible tests at the Large Hadron Collider. Specifically we discuss here some generic approaches to deciphering their signatures. We also consider an out of the box possibility of a four generation model where the fourth generation is a mirror generation rather than a sequential generation. Such a scenario can lead to some remarkably distinct signatures at the LHC.
We find out the connection between the unintegrated gluon distribution at low intrinsic transverse momenta and the inclusive spectrum of the hadrons produced in pp collision at LHC energies in the mid-rapidity region and low hadron transverse momenta. The parameters of this distribution are found from the best description of the LHC data. Its application to the analysis of ep deep inelastic scattering allows us to obtain the results which reasonable describe the H1 and ZEUS data on the structure functions at low x. The connection between the soft processes at LHC and small-x physics at HERA is…
Motivated by the upcoming Higgs analyzes we investigate the importance of the complementarity of the Higgs boson chase on the low mass WIMP search in direct detection experiments and the gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center measured by the Fermi-LAT telescope in the context of the $SU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_N$. We obtain the relic abundance, thermal cross section, the WIMP-nucleon cross section in the low mass regime and network them with the branching ratios of the Higgs boson in the model. We conclude that the Higgs boson search has a profound connection to the dark matter pr…
These lectures give an overview of aspects of missing E_T signatures from new physics at the LHC, along with their important connection to dark matter physics. Mostly, I will concentrate on supersymmetric (SUSY) sources of missing E_T, but will also mention Little Higgs models with T-parity (LHT) and universal extra dimensions (UED) models with KK-parity. Lecture 1 covers SUSY basics, model building and spectra computation. Lecture 2 addresses sparticle production and decay mechanisms at hadron colliders and event generation. Lecture 3 covers SUSY signatures at LHC, along with LHT and UED sign…
The physics perspectives of the production and decay of single top quarks and top quark pairs at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are reviewed from a phenomenological point of view.
The expected sensitivity of the LHC experiments to the discovery of the Higgs boson and the measurement of its properties is presented in the context of both the standard model and the its minimal supersymmetric extension. Prospects for a luminosity-upgraded ``Super-LHC'' are also presented.
We discuss the connection between the understanding of TeV scale physics to be found at the LHC and a high energy e+e- linear collider, using Higgs physics, low energy supersymmetry, and the top quark sector as examples.
The prospects for physics at the LHC are discussed, starting with the foretaste, preparation (and perhaps scoop) provided by the Tevatron, in particular, and then continuing through the successive phases of LHC operation. These include the start-up phase, the early physics runs, the possible search for new physics in double diffraction, the continuation to nominal LHC running, and the possible upgrade of the LHC luminosity. Emphasis is placed on the prospects for Higgs physics and the search for supersymmetry. The progress and discoveries of the LHC will set the time-scale and agenda for the m…
LHCb is a dedicated detector for b physics at the LHC. In this article we present a concise review of the detector design and performance together with the main physics goals and their relevance for a precise test of the Standard Model and search of New Physics beyond it.
I discuss and connect a number of topics in small-x physics at HERA and at LHC, pointing out recent progress and open questions in theory and phenomenology.
We review what can (and cannot) be learned if dark matter is detected in one or more experiments, emphasizing the importance of combining LHC data with direct, astrophysical and cosmological probes of dark matter. We briefly review the conventional picture of a thermally produced WIMP relic density and its connection with theories of electroweak symmetry breaking. We then discuss both experimental and theoretical reasons why one might generically expect this picture to fail. If this is the case, we argue that a combined effort bringing together all types of data -- combined with explicitly con…
The LHC will soon provide proton-proton collisions at the unprecedented center of mass energy, $\sqrt{s}=$14 TeV. This not only allows us to probe new regions of high-$p_T$ physics, but also low-$x$ and forward physics. A selection of potential measurements are described to outline the prospects for low-$x$ and forward physics in the ATLAS, CMS, TOTEM, and LHCf experiments.
I present a concise review of where we stand in particle physics today. First, I will discuss the status of the Standard Model, its open problems and the expected answers from the LHC. Then I will briefly review the avenues for New Physics that can be revealed by the LHC.
We review the search for new physics to be performed at the Large Hadron Collider(LHC). Namely, we review the expectations for the Higgs boson, supersymmetry and exotica detection at LHC. We also describe the main parameters of the CMS and ATLAS detectors.
We present some physics topics that can be studied at the LHC using proton tagging. We distinguish the QCD (Pomeron structure, BFKL analysis...) from the exploratory physics topics (HIggs boson, anomalous couplings between photons and $W/Z$ bosons
We review the theoretical and experimental motivations behind recent proposals to add forward proton tagging detectors to the LHC experiments as a means to search for new physics.
We review some peculiar features of Sudakov expansions in the calculation of electroweak radiative corrections in the MSSM at high energy. We give specific examples and consider in particular the process b g -> t W of single top quark production relevant for the top quark physics programme at LHC.
We discuss the status of the theoretical predictions of some interesting b-physics observables that are sensitive to New Physics and can be measured at the LHC.
This talk discusses extrapolations to the LHC of several, apparently universal trends, seen in the data on relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions up to RHIC energies. In the soft physics sector, such extrapolations to the LHC are typically at odds with LHC predictions of the dynamical models, advocated to underlie multi-particle production up to RHIC energies. I argue that due to this, LHC is likely to be a discovery machine not only in the hard, but also in the soft physics sector.
Lectures content: (1) Flavour physics within the SM and the flavour problem; (2) B-physics phenomenology: mixing, CP violation, and rare decays; (3) Flavour physics beyond the SM: models and predictions.
We present some inclusive and exclusive diffractive processes to be studied at the LHC, namely QCD, quartic anomalous couplings between $γ$ and $W/Z$ bosons and diffractive Higgs processes.
In these lectures I start by briefly reviewing the status of the electroweak theory, in the Standard Model and beyond. I then discuss the motivation and the possible avenues for new physics, on the brink of the LHC start.
We present the theory of QED x QCD resummation and its interplay with shower/matrix element matching in precision LHC physics scenarios. We illustrate the theory using single heavy gauge boson production at hadron colliders.
I review the status of theoretical calculations relevant for electroweak physics at the Tevatron and LHC and discuss future directions. I also give a brief overview of current electroweak data and discuss future expectations.
Deeply-inelastic scattering (DIS) stands to enter a golden age with the prospect of precision programs at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and Large Hadron-electron Collider (LHeC). While these programs will be of considerable importance to resolving longstanding issues in (non)perturbative QCD as well as hadronic and nuclear structure, they will also have valuable implications for a wider range of physics at the Energy and Intensity Frontiers, including at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and future $νA$ facilities. In this plenary contribution, we highlight a number of salient examples of the…
A precision measurement of the LHC luminosity is a key ingredient for its physics program. In this contribution first of all we review the theoretical accuracy in the computation of LHC benchmark processes. Then we discuss the impact of available and future LHC data in global analysis of parton distributions, with emphasis on the treatment of normalization uncertainties. Finally we present some suggestions for the physics opportunities that can become available by measuring ratios of cross sections between the 8 TeV and 7 TeV runs.
What kind of New Physics, if any, we expect to discover at the LHC? I will try to address this formidable question by re-formulating it as follows: is the breaking of the electroweak symmetry strong or weak ?
We study the combined effects of both strong and electroweak dimension six effective operators on flavour changing top quark physics at the LHC. Analytic expressions for the cross sections and decay widths of several flavour changing processes will be presented, as well as an analysis of the feasibility of their observation at the LHC.
Welcome to the 2008 TASI lectures on the exciting topic of `tools and technicalities' (original title). Technically, LHC physics is really all about perturbative QCD in signals or backgrounds. Whenever we look for interesting signatures at the LHC we get killed by QCD. Therefore, I will focus on QCD issues which arise for example in Higgs searches or exotics searches at the LHC, and ways to tackle them nowadays. In the last section you will find a few phenomenological discussions, for example on missing energy or helicity amplitudes.
We present recent developments in the theory and application of IR-improved QED$\otimes$QCD resummation methods, realized by MC event generator methods, for LHC and FCC physics scenarios.
The LHC / LC Study Group investigates how analyses at the LHC could profit from results obtained at a future Linear Collider and vice versa, leading to mutual benefits for the physics program at both machines. Some examples of results obtained within this working group so far concerning searches for new physics are briefly summarised.
The recent successes of the SM do not weaken the arguments in favour of New Physics residing at the TeV scale. Finding and identifying it represents the prime challenge for a generation of high energy physicists. To differentiate between different scenarios of New Physics we need to analyze their impact on flavour dynamics. A continuing comprehensive program of heavy flavour studies instrumentalizing the high sensitivity of \cp analyses is intrinsically connected to LHC's core mission. In B decays we can typically expect no more than moderate deviations from SM predictions. $B_s$ transitions p…
Some physical aspects of the ALICE experiment at the LHC are considered with emphasis on possible probes of quark-gluon plasma, created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.
I discuss LHC physics in the historical perspective of the progress in particle physics. After a recap of the Standard Model of particle physics, I discuss the high energy colliders leading up to LHC and their role in the discovery of these SM particles. Then I discuss the two main physics issues of LHC, i.e. Higgs mechanism and Supersymmetry. I briefly touch upon Higgs and SUSY searches at LHC along with their cosmological implications.
One may use amplitude-based resummation in QED $\otimes$ QCD to achieve IR-improvement of unintegrable singularities in the infrared regime to arbitrary precision in principle. We illustrate such improvement in specific examples in precision LHC/FCC physics.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is expected to provide proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, yielding millions of of top quark events. The top-physics potential of the two general purpose experiments, ATLAS and CMS, is discussed according to state-of-the-art simulation of both physics and detectors. An overview is given of the most important results with emphasis on the expected improvements in our understanding of physics connected to the top quark.
We perform a model independent analysis of the flavour changing strong interaction vertices relevant to the LHC. In particular, the contribution of dimension six operators to single top production in various production processes is discussed, together with possible hints for identifying signals and setting bounds on physics beyond the standard model.
Diffractive processes possible to be measured at the LHC are listed and briefly discussed. This includes soft (elastic scattering, exclusive meson pair production, diffractive bremsstrahlung) and hard (single and double Pomeron exchange jets, $γ$+jet, W/Z, jet-gap-jet, exclusive jets) processes as well as Beyond Stanrad Model phenomena (anomalous gauge couplings, magnetic monopoles).
I review the status of the comparisons between a few measurements at hadronic colliders and perturbative QCD predictions, which emphasize the need for improving the current computations. Such improvements will be mandatory for a satisfactory understanding of high-energy collisions at the LHC
Polarization observables in top quark decays are sensitive probes of possible new physics contributions to the interactions of the heavy third generation quarks. Within an effective theory approach such new physics contributions can be classified in terms of several higher dimensional operators. We investigate the interplay between indirect constraints on such operators, coming mainly from rare B physics processes, and direct measurements of top polarization observables at the LHC.
The LHC program will include the identification of events with single high-k_T photons as probes of new physics. We show that this channel is uniquely suited to search for experimental evidence of TeV-scale open string theory.
Following a general introduction to open questions beyond the Standard Model, the prospects for addressing them in the new era opened up by the LHC are reviewed. Sample highlights are given of ways in which the LHC is already probing beyond previous experiments, including the searches for supersymmetry, quark and gluon substructure and microscopic black holes.
We discuss the strategy to commission the LHC experiments and understand standard physics at sqrt{s}=14TeV before data taking starts and in the early phases of the LHC operation. In particular, we review the various steps needed to understand and calibrate the ATLAS and CMS detectors, from construction quality checks, to beam tests, to cosmics runs, to first collisions. We also review the preparation and tuning of Monte Carlo tools, and present a few examples of physics goals for integrated luminosities of up to a few inverse fb.
The momentum dependence of the exciting new Pb + Pb data from LHC qualitatively suggests a perturbative picture interpretation for the energy loss of high-pT particles, but conclusions are difficult to draw due to the lack of 1) a quantitative theoretical calculation constrained by current high precision RHIC data and 2) a lack of control p + p and p + Pb data at LHC. Future measurements of identified heavy quark suppression will provide a novel qualitative tool for determining the dominant physics of the quark-gluon plasma created at RHIC and LHC.
We discuss the complementarity between the LHC and a low energy photon collider. We mostly consider the scenario, where the first linear collider is a photon collider based on dual beam technology like CLIC.
We discuss the model independent parameterization for a strongly interacting electroweak sector. Phenomenological studies are made to probe such a sector for future colliders such as the LHC, $e^+e^-$ Linear collider and a muon collider.
I present a concise review of where we stand in particle physics today. First, I will discuss QCD, then the electroweak sector and finally the motivations and the avenues for new physics beyond the Standard Model.
We present an overview of what we learned so far from low-energy flavour observables, concerning physics beyond the Standard Model, and what we could still learn from further studies in flavour physics in the next few years.
Experimental prospects for studying high-energy photon-photon and photon-proton interactions at the LHC are discussed. Assuming a typical LHC multipurpose detector, various signals and their irreducible backgrounds are presented after applying acceptance cuts. Selection strategies based on photon interaction tagging techniques are presented. Prospects are discussed for the Higgs boson search, detection of SUSY particles and of anomalous quartic gauge couplings, as well as for the top quark physics.
If a new massive vector boson with nonzero axial couplings to fermions will be observed at LHC, then an upper limit on the scale of new physics could be derived from unitarity of $\mathcal{S}$-matrix. The new physics will involve either new massive fermions, or scalars, or even a strongly coupled sector. We derive a model independent bound on the scale of new physics. If $M_{G}/ g_{A} < 3$ TeV and the fermion is a top quark, the upper limit is 78 TeV.
This talk is a short overview of the physics potential of the LHC with emphasis on Higgs search and SUSY search. First I review why LHC with the ATLAS and CMS detectors is expected to give a decisive test of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism of the Standard Model. Then I consider the Higgs sector of the Standard Model (SM). Finally the search for supersymmetry is discussed within the framework of various implementation of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM).
The study of possible new physics signals in global event properties in pp collisions in full phase space and in rapidity intervals accessible at LHC is presented. The main characteristic is the presence of an elbow structure in final charged particle MD's in addition to the shoulder observed at lower c.m. energies.
We discuss the physics potential and the experimental challenges of an upgraded LHC running at an instantaneous luminosity of 10**35 cm-2s-1. The detector R&D needed to operate ATLAS and CMS in a very high radiation environment and the expected detector performance are discussed. A few examples of the increased physics potential are given, ranging from precise measurements within the Standard Model (in particular in the Higgs sector) to the discovery reach for several New Physics processes
The strategies recently developed to study Higgs boson properties at the LHC are reviewed. It is shown how to obtain model-independent determinations of couplings to fermions and gauge bosons by exploiting different production and decay channels. We consider the case of Weak Boson Fusion Higgs production with H decaying into b anti-b
We review the main features of Monte Carlo generators for top quark phenomenology and present some results for t-tbar and single-top signals and backgrounds at the LHC.