Once new particles are discovered at the LHC and their masses are measured, it will be of crucial importance to determine their spin, in order to identify the underlying new physics model. We investigate the method first suggested by Barr and later extended by others to distinguish between Supersymmetry and alternative models, e.g. Universal Extra Dimensions, in a certain cascade decay. This method uses invariant mass distributions of the outgoing Standard Model particles to measure the spin of intermediate particles, by exploiting the quark/anti-quark asymmetry of the LHC as a pp collider, which is limited for first generation quarks. In this work, we suggest instead to measure the charge of the outgoing quark, in case it is a third generation quark. The resulting asymmetry for a bottom quark is similar to the previous method, while it is independent of hadronic uncertainties. Furthermore, for a top quark, the asymmetry allows better distinction between the models, as demonstrated by a quantitative analysis of model discrimination. We also show that the top's decay products can be used instead of the top itself, when the reconstruction of the top momentum is difficult to accomplish, and still provide information about the spin.
In SUSY scenarios with invisible LSP, sparticle masses can be determined from fits to the endpoints of invariant mass distributions. Here we discuss possible improvements by using the shapes of the distributions. Positive results are found for multiple-minima situations and for mass regions where the endpoints do not contain sufficient information to obtain the masses.
Collider events with multi-stage cascade decays fill out the kinematically allowed region in phase space with a density that is enhanced at the boundary. The boundary encodes all available information about the spectrum and is well populated even with moderate signal statistics due to this enhancement. In previous work, the improvement in the precision of mass measurements for cascade decays with three visible and one invisible particles was demonstrated when the full boundary information is used instead of endpoints of one-dimensional projections. We extend these results to cascade decays wit…
Determining the spin of new particles is an important tool for discriminating models beyond the Standard Model. We show that in case of cascades of subsequent two body decays the existing strategy to extract the spin from lepton and quark spectra can be used without changes even if one allows for dim-5 and dim-6 operators which might be induced by physics just beyond the reach of LHC. We show analytically that these operators do not change the overall structure of these spectra.
In supersymmetric models with gluinos around 1000-2000 GeV, new physics searches based on cascade decay products of the gluino are viable at the next run of the LHC. We investigate a scenario where the light stop is lighter than the gluino and both are lighter than all other squarks, and show that its signal can be established using multi b-jet, multi W and/or multi lepton final state topologies. We then utilize both boosted and conventional jet topologies in the final state in conjunction with di-tau production as a probe of the stau-neutralino co-annihilation region responsible for the model…
The chiral structure of supersymmetric particle couplings involving third generation Standard Model fermions depends on left-right squark and slepton mixings as well as gaugino-higgsino mixings. The shapes and intercorrelations of invariant mass distributions of a first or second generation lepton with bottoms and taus arising from adjacent branches of SUSY cascade decays are shown to be a sensitive probe of this chiral structure. All possible cascade decays that can give rise to such correlations within the MSSM are considered. For bottom-lepton correlations the distinctive structure of the i…
Till 2010 we had three unknown parameters of neutrino oscillation: the third mixing angle θ_(13), the sign of the larger mass difference Δm^(2)_(31) and the CP violating phase δ. Thanks to a number of consistent experimental results since then, culminating in the recent Daya Bay reactor neutrino data, we have a definitive determination of θ_(13) now. Moreover its measured value, sin^(2)_(2 θ_(13)) = 0.1, is close to its earlier upper limit. This has promising implications for the determination of the two remaining unknown parameters from the present and proposed accelerator neutrino experiment…
The measurements of kinematical endpoints, in cascade decays of supersymmetric particles, in principle allow for a determination of the masses of the unstable particles. However, in this procedure ambiguities often arise. We here illustrate how such ambiguities arise. They can be resolved by a precise determination of the LSP mass, provided by the Linear Collider.
We systematically study the possibility of determining the spin of new particles after their discovery at the LHC. We concentrate on angular correlations in cascade decays. Motivated by constraints of electroweak precision tests and the potential of providing a Cold Dark Matter candidate, we focus on scenarios of new physics in which some discrete symmetry guarantees the existence of stable neutral particles which escape the detector. More specifically, we compare supersymmetry with another generic scenario in which new physics particles have the same spin as their Standard Model partners. A s…
A precise determination of the charm-strange baryon Cascade(c)+ lifetime is presented. The data were accumulated by the Fermilab high-energy photoproduction experiment FOCUS. The measurement is made with 300 Cascade(c)+ --> Cascade- pi+ pi+ decays, 130 Cascade(c)+ --> Sigma+ K- pi+ decays, 45 Cascade(c)+ --> p K- pi+ decays and 58 Cascade(c)+ --> Lambda K- pi+ pi+ decays. The Cascade(c)+ lifetime is measured to be 0.439+/-0.022+/-0.009 ps.
At the LHC, a generic supersymmetric cascade can be a source of top quark. Specifically third generation squarks and gluino are the major sources of top quark which could also be boosted. In this article, we have shown that jet substructure algorithm can be very useful in identifying such boosted top quarks in the cascade. We take inclusive three jets plus zero lepton plus missing energy final state and try to reconstruct at least one hadronically decaying top quark by using top tagging techniques which has good prospect at the LHC.
Current mass limits allow the possibility that squarks may be produced in large numbers at the next generation of linear $e^+e^-$ colliders. In this paper we investigate the prospects for precision studies of squark masses at such colliders. We assume that squarks are lighter than gluinos, and discuss both direct and cascade decay scenarios. By exploiting the clean environment and polarizable beams of linear $e^+e^-$ colliders, we find that squark mass determinations at the level of a few GeV are possible in a large part of the parameter space.
When several sparticle masses are known, the kinematics of SUSY decay processes observed at the LHC can be solved if the cascade decays contain sufficient steps. We demonstrate four examples of this full reconstruction technique applied to channels involving leptons, namely a) gluino mass determination, b) sbottom mass determination, c) LSP momentum reconstruction, and d) heavy higgs mass determination.
In this paper, we investigate how a sizeable width-to-mass ratio for a gluino, as is for example realized in GMSB scenarios, could affect the discovery potential of gluinos at the LHC. More importantly, the influence of the gluino being "fat" on the standard mass and spin determination methods at the LHC are investigated. For this purpose, we focus on gluino production at the LHC, where we do not factorize the first step in the gluino decay cascade, but treat the following decay cascades step in factorization, including full spin correlations. The effects of sizeable width-to-mass ratios from …
We derive analytical expressions for the shape of the invariant mass distributions of massless Standard Model endproducts in cascade decays involving massive New Physics (NP) particles, D -> Cc -> Bbc -> Aabc, where the final NP particle A in the cascade is unobserved and where two of the particles a, b, c may be indistinguishable. Knowledge of these expressions can improve the determination of NP parameters at the LHC. The shape formulas are composite, but contain nothing more complicated than logarithms of simple expressions. We study the effects of cuts, final state radiation and detector e…
We perform a systematic study of the production of a third-generation fermion-pair, $μ^+μ^-\to f\bar{f}$ for $f=τ^-,b$, and t in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with explicit CP violation, which is induced radiatively by soft trilinear interactions related to squarks of the third generation. We classify all the observables for probing the CP property of the Higgs bosons constructed by the initial muon beam polarization along with the unpolarized final fermions and with the final-fermion polarization configuration of equal helicity, respectively. The observables allow for compl…
A benchmark CP-violating supersymmetric scenario (known as 'CPX-scenario' in the literature) is studied in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is shown that the LHC, with low to moderate accumulated luminosity, will be able to probe the existing `hole' in the $m_{h_1}$-$\tanβ$ plane, which cannot be ruled out by the LEP data. We explore the parameter space with cascade decay of third generation squarks and gluino with CP-violating decay branching fractions. We propose a multi-channel analysis to probe this parameter space some of which are background free at an integrated lumino…
In the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, we study the production of Higgs bosons at the Large Hadron Collider via cascade decays of scalar quarks and gluinos. We focus on the cascades involving heavier charginos and neutralinos, which decay into the neutral $h,A,H$ and charged $H^\pm$ bosons and lighter charginos and neutralinos, but we will also discuss direct decays of third--generation squarks into their lighter partners and Higgs bosons as well as top quark decays into $H^\pm$ bosons. We show that the production rates of relatively light Higgs bosons, $…
In this talk I look into three different topics, addressing first a method to determine the quantum numbers of the $Θ^+$, then exploiting the possibility that the $Θ^+$ is a bound state of $K πN$ and in the third place I present results on a new resonant exotic baryonic state which appears as dynamically generated by the Weinberg Tomozawa $ΔK$ interaction.
In this paper we present an analysis at NLO of the contribution from squark-squark production to the experimental signature 2j + 2l + missing E_T (+X) with opposite-sign same flavor leptons, taking into account decays and experimental cuts. We consider the case in which one squark decays directly into the lightest neutralino chi^0_1 and the other one into the second lightest neutralino and subsequently into l^+l^-chi^0_1 via an intermediate slepton. On one hand we study effects of the NLO corrections on invariant mass distributions which can be used for future parameter determination. On the o…
We discuss the production of charginos, neutralinos, and third generation sfermions in $e^+e^-$ annihilation in the energy range $\sqrt{s} = 0.2-1$ TeV. We present numerical predictions within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model for the cross sections and study the importance of beam polarization for the determination of the underlying SUSY parameters.
Spin measurements are crucial in distinguishing major scenarios of TeV scale new physics once it is discovered at the LHC. We give a brief survey of methods of measuring the spin of new physics particles at the LHC. We focus on the case in which a long lived massive neutral particle is produced at the end of every cascade decay and escape detection. This is the case for R-parity preserving supersymmetry, Little Higgs models with T-parity, extra-dimensional models with KK-parity, and a large class of similar models and scenarios. After briefly commenting on measuring spin by combining mass and …
If R-parity conserving supersymmetry is realised with masses below the TeV scale, sparticles will be produced and decay in cascades at the LHC. In the case of a neutral LSP, which will not be detected, decay chains cannot be fully reconstructed, complicating the mass determination of the new particles. In this paper we extend the method of obtaining masses from kinematical endpoints to include a gluino at the head of a five-sparticle decay chain. This represents a non-trivial extension of the corresponding method for the squark decay chain. We calculate the endpoints of the new distributions a…
The lighter chargino pair production ($e^+e^- \to \tildeχ^{+}_{1} \tildeχ^{-}_{1}$) is one of key processes for determination of supersymmetric parameters at a linear collider. If $\tanβ$ is a large value, the lighter stau ($\tildeτ^{\pm}_{1}$) might be lighter than the $\tildeχ^{\pm}_{1}$, while the other sleptons stay heavier. This case leads a cascade decay, $\tildeχ^{\pm}_{1} \to \tildeτ^{\pm}_{1} ν_τ$ followed by $\tildeτ^{\pm}_{1} \to \tildeχ^{0}_{1} τ^{\pm}$, where $\tildeχ^{0}_{1}$ is the lightest supersymmetric particle. This paper addresses to what extent this cascade decay may affec…
We determine $|V_{cb}|$ using the third-order perturbative series for the inclusive semileptonic $B$ decay width and for the masses of the bottomonium 1S states. We use the masses of $η_b(1S)$ and $Υ(1S)$ as short-distance masses and point out that there is a sizable difference of $|V_{cb}|$ between the two 1S mass schemes. This is the dominant error of our determination and stems from insufficiency to describe theoretically the observed mass splitting of the bottomonium 1S states. We also study the significance of the $\mathcal{O}(Λ_{\overline{\rm MS}}^2)$ non-perturbative effects in HQET wit…
Absolute normalisation of the LHC measurements with O(1%) precision and their relative normalisation, for the data collected at variable centre-of-mass energies, or for variable beam particle species, with O(0.1%) precision is crucial for the LHC experimental programme but presently beyond the reach for the general purpose LHC detectors. This paper is the third in the series of papers presenting the measurement method capable to achieve such a goal.
The classic method for mass determination in a SUSY-like cascade decay chain relies on measurements of the kinematic endpoints in the invariant mass distributions of suitable collections of visible decay products. However, the procedure is complicated by combinatorial ambiguities: e.g., the visible final state particles may be indistinguishable (as in the case of QCD jets), or one may not know the exact order in which they are emitted along the decay chain. In order to avoid such combinatorial ambiguities, we propose to treat the final state particles fully democratically and consider the sort…
We study cascade decays of heavy neutral Higgs bosons through vectorlike quarks. We focus on scenarios where decay modes into pairs of vectorlike quarks are not kinematically open which extends the sensitivity of the LHC to larger masses. Assuming only mixing with the third family of standard model quarks the new decay modes of heavy Higgs bosons are: $H\to t_4 t \to Wbt, Zt t, ht t$ and $H\to b_4 b \to Wtb, Zb b, hb b$, where $t_4$ ($b_4$) is the new up-type (down-type) quark mass eigenstate. In the numerical analysis we assume the CP even Higgs boson in the two Higgs doublet model type-II bu…
In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) properties of the third generation sfermions are important from the viewpoint of discriminating the SUSY breaking models and in the determination of the Higgs boson mass. If gluinos are copiously produced at CERN LHC, gluino decays into tb through stop and sbottom can be studied using hadronic decays of the top quark. The kinematical endpoint of the gluino decays can be evaluated using a W sideband method to estimate combinatorial backgrounds. This implies that fundamental parameters related to the third generation squarks can be reliably mea…
Recently LHCb has measured the branching ratio of the rare decay of $B_s^0\rightarrow μ^+ μ^- $ as $2.9^{+1.1}_{-1.0} \times10^{-9}$ which is at par with the predicted standard model (SM) value. This result does not predict the absence of new physics (NP), rather it confines the NP parameter-space in a more stringent fashion. In this paper we have used the general loop level Hamiltonian to constrain the parameter space for the NP couplings for $B_s^0\rightarrow μ^+ μ^- $ from the experimental branching ratio. Using the available parameter space for these couplings, we have explored the angular…
