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 $\mathcal{L} = 150$ fb$^{-1}$.
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.
We study the neutral current flavour changing rare decay mode $B\to K γγ$ within the framework of Standard Model, including the long distance contributions. It is found that these long distance contributions can larger than the short distance contribution.
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 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 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…
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.
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…
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.
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…
Flavour changing top decays $t \to c Z^0, t \to c g$ and $t \to c γ$ are predicted with invisible rates within the standard model and may represent a window on new physics. We consider these processes in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model and we show that observable rates can be obtained only if the SUSY breaking is non universal and flavour dependent.
We review the theory and experimental measurements in the flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) processes involving B decays in the context of the standard model (SM). The role of these processes in determining the weak mixing matrix elements is stressed.
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 compute the genuine SUSY one-loop quantum contributions to flavour-changing MSSM Higgs-boson decays into $b \bar s$ and $s \bar b$ using the full diagrammatic approach that is valid for all $\tan β$ values and do not rely on the mass-insertion approximation for the characteristic flavour-changing parameter. We analyze in full detail the dependence of these flavour-changing partial widths on all the relevant MSSM parameters and also study the non-decoupling behaviour of these widths with the SUSY mass parameters. We find that these contributions are sizable as compared to the SM ones, and ca…
We evaluate the complete four-loop anomalous dimension matrix that is necessary for determining the effective flavour-changing neutral current couplings qbar-q'-gamma and qbar-q'-g at the next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. The resulting O(alpha_s^2(mu_b)) correction to the B -> X_s gamma branching ratio amounts to around -2.9% for mu_b = 5 GeV, and -4.4% for mu_b = 2.5 GeV
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…
The SUSY-EW one-loop quantum contributions to flavour-changing MSSM Higgs-boson decays into $b \bar s$ and $s \bar b$ are computed and discussed. We use the full diagrammatic approach that is valid for all $\tan β$ values and do not rely on the mass-insertion approximation for the characteristic flavour-changing parameter. We analyze in full detail the dependence of these flavour-changing partial widths on all the relevant MSSM parameters and also study the non-decoupling behaviour of these widths with the SUSY mass parameters. We find that these contributions are sizable as compared to the SM…
We discuss some flavour-changing effective Lagrangians, obtained from scales above 1 GeV, which vanish on the quark mass shell. Although the effects of such effective Lagrangians are zero in the limit of vanishing bound-state interactions, we have shown that they have a significant impact on the processes $K\rightarrowγγ$ and $B_s \rightarrowγγ$.
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…
We study the behaviour of the flavour changing neutral currents in the Left-Right Symmetric Model related to the presence of spontaneous CP phases. To do this, we explore four cases corresponding to combinations of maximal and no CP violation in both the lepton and quark sector. We find that we can constrain the flavour changing neutral currents to the experimental limit, by adjusting the CP-violating phase of the quark sector, opening the possibility to obtain a large CP violation in the lepton sector as well as new Higgs bosons at the electroweak scale.
The branching ratio of the rare decay B->X_s gamma provides potentially strong constraints on models beyond the Standard Model. Considering a general scenario with new heavy neutral gauge bosons, present in particular in Z' and gauge flavour models, we point out two new contributions to the B->X_s gamma decay. The first one originates from one-loop diagrams mediated by gauge bosons and heavy exotic quarks with electric charge -1/3. The second contribution stems from the QCD mixing of neutral current-current operators generated by heavy neutral gauge bosons and the dipole operators responsible …
Leptophobic Z' gauge bosons can appear in models with an E_6 gauge symmetry. We show that flavour-changing neutral currents can be generated in some of these models due to the mixing of the ordinary d_R, s_R and b_R quark fields with the exotic h_R. Because the Z' does not couple to charged leptons, the constraints on the flavour-changing couplings U^{Z'}_{db} and U^{Z'}_{sb} are relatively weak. Indeed, B_q--Bbar_q mixing (q=d,s) can be dominated by Z' exchange, which will affect CP-violating rate asymmetries in B decays. Rare hadronic B decays can also be affected, while decays involving cha…
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 s…
We show that the correct perturbation theory for mixed fermion states leads to nonvanishing contributions of the dimension-four vertex operators for flavour-changing transitions. Their contributions to the amplitude are of the same order of magnitude as the dimension- five vertex operators. Considerations are valid irrespective of the electroweak model. A complete and correct evaluation of the neutrino lifetime for particular electroweak models could be of greate importance in the theoretical cosmology and astrophysics.
We examine the decays $t\rightarrow cγ$ and $c Z^0$ in the Standard Model with an extra scalar doublet and no discrete symmetry preventing tree-level flavour changing neutral currents. The Yukawa couplings of the new scalars are assumed to be proportional to fermion masses, evading bounds on FCNC's from the light quark sector. These rare top decays may be visible at the SSC.
Flavour changing effects originating from the exchange of scalar particles in the processes e^+ e^- -> H b \bar{s}, H \bar{b} s, with H = h^0, H^0, A^0, are investigated in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with non-minimal flavour violation at the one-loop level. The dominating SUSY-QCD contributions with squark--gluino loops are calculated and discussed. We consider the SUSY scenario with non-minimal flavour mixing in the down-type squark-mass matrix. The flavour-changing cross sections are derived, and we discuss the dependence on the MSSM parameters and the strength of flavour mixi…
We present an analysis of the sensitivity of the TESLA e+ e- collider to top flavour-changing neutral couplings to the Z boson and photon. We consider the cases without beam polarization, with only e- polarization and with e- and e+ polarization, showing that the use of the latter substantially enhances the sensitivity to discover or bound these vertices. For some of the couplings the expected LHC limits could be improved up to an order of magnitude for equal running times.
We review the status of the flavour-changing neutral-current processes (FCNC). In particular we discuss: i) Main targets of the field, ii) The theoretical framework for FCNC, iii) Standard analysis of the unitarity triangle, iv) $\varepsilon'/\varepsilon$, v) Radiative, rare and CP-violating decays, vi) CP-asymmetries in B-decays, vii) Comparision of the potentials of $K \to πν\barν$ and CP-B asymmetries, vii) Some aspects of the physics beyond the Standard Model.
Flavour changing neutral current processes, being strongly suppressed in the Standard Model (SM), provide a unique window to new physics at scales much above the electroweak scale. Here, we summarize the recent progress in flavour physics studies of the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity, both in the quark and lepton sector. Particular emphasis is put on various correlations that could distinguish this model from other extensions of the SM.
Contributions of flavour-changing neutral currents in the 3 3 1 model with right-handed neutrinos to mass difference of the neutral meson system $Δm_P (P = K, D, B)$ are calculated. Using the Fritzsch anzats on quark mixing, we show that the third family should be different from the first two. We obtain a lower bound on mass of the new heavy neutral gauge boson as 1.02 TeV.
We analyze the inclusive $b(c) \to s(u) μ^+ μ^-$ and the exclusive $B(D^+) \to K(π^+) μ^+ μ^-$ flavour changing neutral current decays in the light of HyperCP boson $X^0$ of mass 214 MeV recently observed in the hyperon decay $Σ^+ \to p μ^+ μ^-$. Using the branching ratio data of the above inclusive and exclusive decays, we obtain constraints on $g_1 (h_1)$ and $g_2 (h_2)$, the scalar and pseudo-scalar coupling constants of the $b-s-X^0 (c-u-X^0)$ vertices.
Associated single top production with a Z boson or a photon at large hadron colliders provides a precise determination of top flavour-changing neutral couplings. The best way to measure these couplings with the up quark at Tevatron is to search for events with three jets and missing energy or events with a photon, a charged lepton, a jet and missing energy. Other decay channels are also discussed.
We investigate the impact on low energy flavour mixing phenomena of the renormalisation group running of parameters in supersymmetric theories. We have explicitly chosen flavour dependent supergravity couplings. The renormalisation group equations are displayed in general matrix form. We work in a scale dependent basis such that the hierarchy in the quark masses can be more easily utilised. Simple analytic solutions are provided in matrix form (for general boundary conditions) when only the third generation Yukawa couplings are retained in the renormalisation group equations. We solve the evol…
We perform a complete one-loop computation of the two-body flavour-changing top decays $t \rightarrow c h$ and $t \rightarrow c V$ ($V= γ, Z$), within the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model. We evaluate the impact of the model parameters on the associated branching ratios, taking into account constraints from flavour data and measurements of the Higgs properties. Assuming that the $125$~GeV Higgs corresponds to the lightest CP-even scalar of the CP-conserving aligned two-Higgs-doublet model, we find that the rates for such flavour-changing top decays lie below the expected sensitivity of the futu…
We study the effects of dimension six effective operators on the production of single top quarks at the LHC. The operator set considered includes terms with effective gluon interactions and four-fermion terms. Analytic expressions for the several partonic cross sections of single top production will be presented, as well as the results of their integration on the parton density functions.
We build a class of two-Higgs-doublet models in which the flavour-changing couplings of the neutral scalars are related in an exact way to elements of the quark mixing matrix. In this framework, we explore the different possibilities for CP violation and find some interesting scenarios, like a realization of the superweak idea without CP violation in the $B$-meson system. In another scenario the neutral scalars can be relatively light, and their contributions to the $B^0$--$\bar{B}^0$ transitions can alter the standard-model predictions for CP violation in that system.
Top flavour-changing neutral interactions with a light quark q=u,c and a gauge or Higgs boson are very suppressed within the Standard Model (SM), but can reach observable levels in many of its extensions. We review the possible size of the effective vertices Ztq, gamma tq, gtq and Htq in several SM extensions, and discuss the processes in which these interactions might show up at LHC and at a high energy e+ e- linear collider.
We present a comprehensive analysis of the sensitivity of the TESLA e+ e- collider to top flavour-changing neutral couplings to the Z boson and photon. We study single top production and top decay processes, and we consider the cases without beam polarization, with only e- polarization and with e- and e+ polarization. We show that the use of the latter substantially enhances the sensitivity to discover or bound these vertices, and for some of the couplings the expected LHC limits could be improved by factors 2-14 for equal running times.
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.
We propose a mechanism that allows for sizeable flavour violation in quark-lepton currents, while suppressing flavour changing neutral currents in quark-quark and lepton-lepton sectors. The mechanism is applied to the recently proposed 4321 renormalizable model, which can accommodate the current experimental anomalies in $B$-meson decays, both in charged and neutral currents, while remaining consistent with all other indirect flavour and electroweak precision measurements and direct searches at high-$p_T$. To support this claim, we present an exhaustive phenomenological survey of this fully ca…
We study lepton flavour violating two- and three-body decays of pseudoscalar mesons in Effective Field Theory (EFT). We give analytic formulae for the decay rates in the presence of a complete basis of QED and QCD-invariant operators. The constraints are obtained at the experimental scale, then translated to the weak scale via one-loop RGEs. The large RG-mixing between tensor and (pseudo)scalar operators weakens the constraints on scalar and pseudoscalar operators at the weak scale.
Some selected topics in flavour changing neutral current processes in $B$ decays are discussed in the context of the Standard Model. The emphasis here is on the determination of the CKM matrix elements from the ongoing and forthcoming experiments. The topics discussed include: (i) CKM-allowed radiative decays $B \to X_s + γ$, (ii) CKM-suppressed radiative decays $B \to X_d + γ$, $B^\pm \to ρ^\pm + γ$ and $B^0 \to (ρ^0,ω) + γ$, (iii) $B^0 - \bar{B^0}$-mixings, and (iv) the Fleischer-Mannel bound in $B \to Kπ$ decays.
We study the contraints on non-flavour-blind soft supersymmetry breaking terms coming from flavour and CP violating processes in the presence of hierarchical Yukawa couplings, and quantify how much these constraints are weakened in the regions of the MSSM parameter space characterized by heavy gauginos and multi-TeV sfermion masses, respectively. We also study the inverted sfermion mass hierarchy scenario in the context of D-term supersymmetry breaking, and show that generic hierarchical Yukawa couplings with arbitrary phases require first generation squarks in the few 10 TeV range.
We present a detailed and complete calculation of the gluino and scalar quarks contribution to the flavour-changing top quark decay into a charm quark and a photon, gluon, or a Z boson within the minimal supersymmetric standard model including flavour changing gluino-quarks-scalar quarks couplings in the right-handed sector. We compare the results with the ones presented in an earlier paper where we considered flavour changing couplings only in the left-handed sector. We show that these new couplings have important consequences leading to a large enhancement when the mixing of the scalar partn…
We study the flavour changing neutral Higgs boson decays that can be induced from genuine supersymmetric particles at the one-loop level and within the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We consider all the possible flavour changing decay channels of the three neutral Higgs bosons into second and third generation quarks, and focus on the Supersymmetric-QCD corrections from squark-gluino loops which are expected to provide the dominant contributions. We assume here the more general hypothesis for flavour mixing, where there is misalignment between the quark and squark sectors…
In extensions of the Standard Model with two Higgs doublets, flavour changing Yukawa couplings of the neutral scalars may be present at tree level. In this work we consider the most general scenario in which those flavour changing couplings are absent. We re-analyse the conditions that the Yukawa coupling matrices must obey for such \emph{general flavour conservation} (gFC), and study the one loop renormalisation group evolution of such conditions in both the quark and lepton sectors. We show that gFC in the leptonic sector is one loop stable under the Renormalization Group Evolution (RGE) and…
If the LHC should fail to observe direct signals for new physics, it may become necessary to look for new physics effects in rare events such as flavour-changing decays of the top quark, which, in the Standard Model, are predicted to be too small to be observed. We set up the theoretical framework in which experimentally accessible results can be expected in models of new physics, and go on to discuss two models of supersymmetry -- one with conserved $R$-parity, and one without $R$-parity -- to illustrate how the flavour-changing signals are predicted in these models. In the latter case, there…
In models with partially composite quarks, the couplings of quarks to the Z boson generically receive non-universal corrections that are not only constrained by electroweak precision tests but also lead to flavour-changing neutral currents at tree level. The impact of these flavour-changing couplings on rare K and B decays is studied in two-site models for three scenarios: an anarchic strong sector with two different choices of fermion representations both leading to a custodial protection of the Z->bb coupling, and for a strong sector invariant under a U(2)^3 flavour symmetry. In the complete…
We present the results of the gluino and scalar quarks contribution to the flavour changing top quark decay into a charm quark and a photon, gluon or a $Z^0$\ boson within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We include the mixing of the scalar partners of the left and right handed top quark. This mixing has several effects, the most important of which are to greatly enhance the c Z decay mode for large values of the soft SUSY breaking scalar mass $m_S$\ and to give rise to a GIM--like suppresion in the c $γ$\ mode for certain combinations of parameters.
We consider supersymmetric extensions of the standard model with general non-universal soft breaking terms. We analyse in a model-independent way the constraints on these terms at the electroweak energy scale coming from gluino mediated flavour (F) changing neutral current and CP-violating processes. We have computed the complete $ΔF=1$ and $ΔF=2$ effective hamiltonian for gluino mediated processes, including for the first time the effect of box diagrams in the evaluation of $ε^{\prime}/ε$. We present numerical results for the constraints on these non-universal soft breaking terms for differen…
The observed pattern of neutrino mixing may be the result of a 2-3($ μ- τ$) symmetry in the leptonic sector. We consider a two Higgs doublet model with a 2-3 symmetry in the down type quark and the charged lepton sector. The breaking of the 2-3 symmetry by the strange quark mass and the muon mass leads to FCNC in the quark sector and the charged lepton sector that are suppressed by ${m_s \over m_b}$ and ${m_μ \over m_τ}$ in addition to the mass of the heavy Higgs boson of the second Higgs doublet. A Higgs boson mass of $ m_H \sim 600 - 900$ GeV can explain the deviation from standard model rep…
We study the implications of a large nu_mu - nu_tau mixing angle on flavour changing transitions of quarks and leptons in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. Two patterns of supersymmetry breaking are considered, models with modular invariance and the standard scenario of universal soft breaking terms at the GUT scale. The analysis is performed for two symmetry groups G x U(1)_F, with G=SU(5) and G=SU(3)^3, where U(1)_F is a family symmetry. Models with modular invariance are in agreement with observations only for restricted scalar quark and gaugino masses, (M_squark^2)/(m_gluino…
