We consider gq -> Zt, gq -> gamma t and gq -> t production (q=u,c) mediated by strong flavour-changing neutral interactions within an effective operator framework. We provide total cross sections for Tevatron and LHC, showing explicitly that the six processes can be described in full generality in terms of only two parameters (anomalous couplings) for q=u plus two for q=c. In our work we take into account and study in detail the effects of top quark decay. For gamma t, the inclusion of the top quark decay in the matrix element reveals an striking result: the largest contribution to the final state, e.g. gamma l nu b, with l = e, mu, tau, does not result from gq -> gamma t -> gamma l nu b but from on-shell gq -> t production with t -> gamma l nu b, being the photon radiated off the top decay products. This contribution, missed in previous literature, increases the signal cross sections by factors ranging between 3 and 6.5.
Flavour-changing neutral currents are extremely rare processes in the standard model that can be sensitive to various new physics effects. The summary of the latest experimental results from the LHC experiments is given. Preliminary results of sensitivity studies for future colliders are also discussed.
We construct a three-Higgs doublet model with a flavour non-universal ${\rm U}(1)\times \mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. That symmetry induces suppressed flavour-changing interactions mediated by neutral scalars. New scalars with masses below the TeV scale can still successfully negotiate the constraints arising from flavour data. Such a model can thus encourage direct searches for extra Higgs bosons in the future collider experiments, and includes a non-trivial flavour structure.
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 …
We study the intersection of flavour and collider physics for Two-Higgs-Doublet models of Type I and II. Drawing from the flavour precision-LHC exotics search complementarity, we also provide a projection of the future sensitivity that can be achieved in light of currently available analyses. On the one hand, we find that the parameter space of the 2HDM can be explored significantly further with more data from the LHC with some complementarity with flavour physics. On the other hand, flavour physics results alongside their projections remain powerful tools to constrain the model space in regio…
The ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC have reported the observation of a possible excess of events corresponding to a new particle $h$ with mass $\sim 125$ GeV that might be the long-sought Higgs boson, or something else. Decyphering the nature of this possible signal will require constraining the couplings of the $h$ and measuring them as accurately as possible. Here we analyze the indirect constraints on flavour-changing $h$ decays that are provided by limits on low-energy flavour-changing interactions. We find that indirect limits in the quark sector impose such strong constraints that f…
Flavour physics has a long tradition of paving the way for direct discoveries of new particles and interactions. Results over the last decade have placed stringent bounds on the parameter space of physics beyond the Standard Model. Early results from the LHC, and its dedicated flavour factory LHCb, have further tightened these constraints and reiterate the ongoing relevance of flavour studies. The experimental status of flavour observables in the charm and beauty sectors is reviewed in measurements of CP violation, neutral meson mixing, and measurements of rare decays.
A UFO model describing general top quark Flavour Changing Neutral Currents is presented. We use it to study t$γ$, tH and tZ production via FCNCs anomalous couplings at the Large Hadron Collider, in particular how the distributions of physical observables depend on the anomalous couplings. A sensitivity study of the Large Hadron Collider experiments to tZ production via FCNC in its second stage of operation is also performed.
We show that a simple extension of the Standard Model involving the introduction of vector-like quarks and heavy neutrinos, provides an explanation of the so called B-anomalies in $b\to s\ell\bar\ell$ transitions. Vector-like quarks can explain, in the context of a discrete flavour symmetry, all the relevant characteristics of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa sector. It is in this framework that we study the requirements on the masses of the vector like quarks and the heavy neutrinos leading to viable models with sufficient deviations of lepton flavour universality and which simultaneously avoid …
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…
Flavour-changing neutral-current interactions of the top quark can be searched for in top-quark pair production with one top quark decaying to an up-type quark and a neutral boson, and they can be searched for in the single production of a top quark in association with such a boson. Both processes interfere if an additional up-type quark is produced in the case of single production. The impact of these interference effects on searches for flavour-changing neutral currents at the LHC is studied for the case where the neutral boson is a photon or a $Z$ boson. Interference effects are found to be…
We demonstrate that flavour-changing neutral currents in the top sector, mediated by leptophilic scalars at the electroweak scale, can easily arise in scenarios of new physics, and in particular in composite Higgs models. We moreover show that such interactions are poorly constrained by current experiments, while they can be searched for at the LHC in rare top decays and, more generally, in the channels $pp\to tS(S)+j$, with $S\to\ell^+\ell^-$. We provide dedicated analyses in this respect, obtaining that cut-off scales as large as $Λ\sim$ 90 TeV can be probed with an integrated luminosity of …
We propose a class of Two Higgs Doublet Models where there are Flavour Changing Neutral Currents (FCNC) at tree level, but under control due to the introduction of a discrete symmetry in the full Lagrangian. It is shown that in this class of models, one can have simultaneously FCNC in the up and down sectors, in contrast to the situation encountered in BGL models. The intensity of FCNC is analysed and it is shown that in this class of models one can respect all the strong constraints from experiment without unnatural fine-tuning. It is pointed out that the additional sources of flavour and CP …
We investigate the prospects for detection of lepton flavour violation in sparticle production and decays at a Linear Collider (LC), in models guided by neutrino oscillation data. We consider both slepton pair production and sleptons arising from the cascade decays of non-leptonic sparticles. We study the expected signals when lepton-flavour-violating (LFV) interactions are induced by renormalization effects in the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM), focusing on the subset of the supersymmetric parameter space that also leads to cosmologically interestin…
In these proceedings we provide a brief overview of the status of flavour physics, with focus on opportunities to discover New Physics in flavour-violating decays at current and future colliders.
We present a study to examine the sensitivity of a future $e^{-} e^{+}$ collider to the anomalous top flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) to the gluon. To separate signal from background a multivariate analysis is performed on top-quark pair and background events, where one top quark is considered to follow the dominant Standard Model (SM) decay, $t \rightarrow Wb$, and the other top decays through FCNC, $t\rightarrow qg$, where $q$ is a $u-$ or a $c-$quark. The analysis of fully-hadronic FCNC decay of the $t \bar{t}$ pair is also presented. The $95\%$ confidence level limits on the top-qu…
The talks presented in the working group ``Heavy flavours'' of the DIS-2009 workshop are summarised. New and recently updated results from theory, proton antiproton and heavy ion colliders, as well from HERA and $e^+e^-$ colliders are discussed.
We further investigate the case where new physics in the form of a massive $Z^\prime$ particle explains apparent measurements of lepton flavour non-universality in $B \rightarrow K^{(\ast)} l^+ l^-$ decays. Hadron collider sensitivities for direct production of such $Z^\prime$s have been previously studied in the narrow width limit for a $μ^+ μ^-$ final state. Here, we extend the analysis to sizeable decay widths and improve the sensitivity estimate for the narrow width case. We estimate the sensitivities of the high luminosity 14 TeV Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), a high energy 27 TeV LHC (H…
In this work, we explore the flavour changing decays $H_i \to b s$ in a general supersymmetric scenario. In these models, the flavour changing decays arise at loop-level but, originating from a dimension-four operator, do not decouple and may provide a first sign of new physics for heavy masses beyond collider reach. In the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM), we find that the largest branching ratio of the lightest Higgs ($H_1$) is ${\cal O}(10^{-6})$ after imposing present experimental constraints. While heavy Higgs states may still present branchin…
In this work we assess the potential of discovering new physics by searching for lepton-flavour-violating (LFV) decays of the $Z$ boson, $Z\to \ell_i \ell_j$, at the proposed circular $e^+e^-$ colliders CEPC and FCC-ee. Both projects plan to run at the $Z$-pole as a Tera Z factory, i.e., collecting $\mathcal O\left(10^{12}\right)$ $Z$ decays. In order to discuss the discovery potential in a model-independent way, we revisit the LFV $Z$ decays in the context of the Standard Model effective field theory and study the indirect constraints from LFV $μ$ and $τ$ decays on the operators that can indu…
We explore the constraints current collider searches place on a QCD-like dark sector. A combination of multi-jet, multi-jet plus missing energy and emerging jets searches is used to derive constraints on the mediator mass across the full range of the dark meson lifetimes for the first time. The dark sector inherits a flavour structure from the coupling between the dark quarks and the SM quarks through the mediator. When this is taken into account, the differently flavoured dark pions become distinguishable through their lifetime. We show that also in these cases the above mentioned searches re…
We analyse various flavour changing processes like $t\to hu,hc$, $h\to τe,τμ$ as well as hadronic decays $h\to bs,bd$, in the framework of a class of two Higgs doublet models where there are flavour changing neutral scalar currents at tree level. These models have the remarkable feature of having these flavour-violating couplings entirely determined by the CKM and PMNS matrices as well as $\tanβ$. The flavour structure of these scalar currents results from a symmetry of the Lagrangian and therefore it is natural and stable under the renormalization group. We show that in some of the models the…
Phenomenology of heavy-flavour jet angularities at hadron colliders
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Università di Genova（热那亚大学）；INFN, Sezione di Genova（意大利国家核物理研究所热那亚分部）；CERN（欧洲核子研究中心）；Georg-August-Universität Göttingen（哥廷根大学）
We discuss several manifestations of charged lepton flavour violation at high energies. Focusing on a supersymmetric type I seesaw, considering constrained and semi-constrained supersymmetry breaking scenarios, we analyse different observables, both at the LHC and at a future Linear Collider. We further discuss how the synergy between low- and high-energy observables can shed some light on the underlying mechanism of lepton flavour violation.
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…
We analise phenomenological implications of two Higgs doublet models with Higgs flavour changing neutral currents suppressed in the quark sector by small entries of the Cabibbo-Kokayashi-Maskawa matrix. This suppression occurs in a natural way since it is the result of a symmetry applied to the Lagrangian. These type of models were proposed some time ago by Branco Grimus and Lavoura. Our results clearly show that these class of models allow for new physical scalars, with masses which are reachable at the LHC. The imposed symmetry severely reduces the number of free parameters and allows for pr…
We define a new class of Z' models with neutral flavour-changing interactions at tree level in the down-quark sector. They are related in an exact way to elements of the quark mixing matrix due to an underlying flavoured U(1)' gauge symmetry, rendering these models particularly predictive. The same symmetry implies lepton-flavour non-universal couplings, fully determined by the gauge structure of the model. Our models allow to address several presently observed deviations from the SM and specific correlations among the new physics contributions to the Wilson coefficients C9,10(l) can be tested…
The observed pattern of mixing in the neutrino sector may be explained by the presence of a non-Abelian, discrete flavour symmetry broken into residual subgroups at low energies. Many flavour models require the presence of Standard Model singlet scalars which can promptly decay to charged leptons in a flavour-violating manner. We constrain the model parameters of a generic $A_4$ leptonic flavour model using a synergy of experimental data including limits from charged lepton flavour conversion, an 8 TeV collider analysis and constraints from the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. The most p…
The recent theory developments and latest experimental results on heavy-flavour production in Deep Inelastic Scattering and at hadron colliders are summarized. Models of heavy quarkonia production, non-perturbative corrections to fragmentation, theory of heavy-hadron production in heavy-ion collisions, and interpretation of new exotic hadrons are discussed. Progress in event generators development is reported. Most recent experimental results from HERA and e+e- colliders as well as from proton-(anti)proton and heavy ion experiments are presented and the role of charm and beauty quarks in the a…
We study the potential of an e+- e- Linear Collider for charged lepton flavour violation studies in a supersymmetric framework where neutrino masses and mixings are explained by a type-I seesaw. Focusing on e-mu flavour transitions, we evaluate the background from standard model and supersymmetric charged currents to the e mu + missing E_T signal. We study the energy dependence of both signal and background, and the effect of beam polarisation in increasing the signal over background significance. Finally, we consider the mu- mu- + missing E_T final state in e- e- collisions that, despite bein…
