The Standard Model of particle physics predicts the existence of quantum tunnelling processes across topological inequivalent vacua, known as Instantons. In the electroweak sector, instantons provide a source of baryon asymmetry within the Standard Model. In Quantum Chromodynamics they are linked to chiral symmetry breaking and confinement. The direct experimental observation of Instanton-induced processes would therefore be a breakthrough in modern particle physics. Recently, new calculations for QCD Instanton processes in proton-proton collisions became public, suggesting sizable cross sections as well as promising experimental signatures at the LHC. In this work, we study possible analysis strategies to discover QCD Instanton induced processes at the LHC and derive a first limit based on existing Minimum Bias data.
We outline a strategy of how to search for QCD instantons of invariant mass 20 -- 60 GeV in diffractive events in low luminosity runs at the LHC. We show that by imposing appropriate selection criteria on the final states, one can select the kinematic regime where the instanton signal exceeds the background by a factor of at least 8. In spite of the relatively strong cuts that we impose on the total transverse energy and the number of charged tracks, $\sum_i E_{T,i}>15$ GeV, $N_{\rm ch}>20$ measured within the $0<η<2$ interval and excluding events with high $p_{T}$ particles, the expected cros…
Probing QCD instantons using jet correlation observables in proton-proton collisions at the LHC
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences（数学科学研究所）；Homi Bhabha National Institute（霍米·巴巴国立研究所）；Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)（印度科学与教育研究所）
We study the possibility to observe heavy ($M_{\rm inst}> 60$ GeV) QCD instantons at the LHC in events with one or two tagged leading protons including fast simulation of detector and pile-up effects. We show that the expected instanton signal in a single-tagged configuration is strongly affected by central detector and pile-up effects. For double-tagged approach, where larger integrated luminosities and hence larger pile-up contaminations need to be considered, the combinatorial background overwhelms the expected signal. We suggest that additional time information about tracks at central and …
QCD instantons are arguably the best motivated yet unobserved nonperturbative effects predicted by the Standard Model. A discovery and detailed study of instanton-generated processes at colliders would provide a new window into the phenomenological exploration of QCD and a vastly improved fundamental understanding of its non-perturbative dynamics. Building on the optical theorem, we numerically calculate the total instanton cross-section from the elastic scattering amplitude, also including quantum effects arising from resummed perturbative exchanges between hard gluons in the initial state, t…
Recently, the CMS collaboration has reported their search for electroweak instanton-like processes with anomalous $B+L$ violation assuming multi-fermion but zero-boson final states. On the other hand, many theoretical studies suggest that anomalous $B+L$ processes may have an observably large production rate only if their final state contains a large number of electroweak gauge bosons. In this paper, we compare collider signatures of zero- and multi-boson events of anomalous $B+L$ violation at the LHC and derive an upper limit on the cross-section for the multi-boson process by recasting the C…
We discuss the origin and size of potential uncertainties arising in the estimate of cross sections for the production of multiparticle final states induced by QCD instantons at the LHC.
We show how exotic stringy instantons can generate an effective interaction between color diquark sextets in a Pati-Salam model, inducing a Majorana mass term for the neutron. In particular, we discuss a simple quiver theory for a Pati-Salam like model, as an example in which the calculations of exotic instantons' effects are simple and controllable. We discuss some different possibilities in order to generate $n-\bar{n}$ oscillation testable in the next generation of experiments, Majorana mass matrices for neutrini and a Post-Sphaleron Baryogenesis scenario. Connections with Dark Matter issue…
We investigate the phenomenological aspects of non-perturbative baryon- and lepton-number-violating processes at hadron colliders. Such processes, induced by instanton/sphaleron configurations of the electroweak gauge fields, are believed to play a crucial role in the generation of baryon asymmetry in the early Universe at finite temperature. On the other hand, at colliders (that represent the zero-temperature high-energy regime) the rate and observability of such processes are still under debate. Motivated by current theoretical considerations, we construct a modern event generator within the…
In the next-to minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) one additional singlet-like Higgs boson with small couplings to standard model (SM) particles is introduced. Although the mass can be well below the discovered 125 GeV Higgs boson mass its small couplings may make a discovery at the LHC difficult. We use a novel scanning technique to efficiently scan the whole parameter space and determine the range of cross sections and branching ratios for the light singlet-like Higgs boson below 125 GeV. This allows to determine the perspectives for the future discovery potential at the LHC. Speci…
It is possible that measurements of vector boson scattering (VBS) at the LHC will reveal disagreement with Standard Model predictions, but no new particles will be observed directly. The task is then to learn as much as possible about the new physics from a VBS analysis carried within the framework of the Effective Field Theory (EFT). In this paper we discuss issues related to the correct usage of the EFT when the WW invariant mass is not directly accessible experimentally, as in purely leptonic W decay channels. The strategies for future data analyses in case such scenario indeed occurs are p…
We analyze the potential of the first LHC physics run, assuming 1/fb at sqrt[s] = 7 TeV, to discover Supersymmetry (SUSY). The results are based on SUSY parameter fits following a frequentist approach. They include the experimental constraints from electroweak precision data, (g-2)_mu, B-physics and cosmological data. The two SUSY models under consideration are the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking mass parameters, and a model with common non-universal Higgs mass parameters in the superpotential (NUHM1). We find that large parts of the regions preferred at the…
Low string scale models might be tested at the LHC directly by their Regge resonances. For such models it is important to investigate the constraints of Standard Model precision measurements on the string scale. It is shown that highly suppressed FCNC processes like K0- bar K^0 oscillations or leptonic decays of the D0-meson provide non-negligible lower bounds on both the perturbatively and surprisingly also non-perturbatively induced string theory couplings. We present both the D-brane instanton formalism to compute such amplitudes and discuss various possible scenarios and their constraints …
We perform a study of the LHC discovery reach on a heavy gluon (G*) and heavy fermions (top and bottom excitations), coming from a new composite sector. We find that heavy fermion resonances have a great impact on the composite gluon phenomenology. If the composite gluon is heavier than composite fermions, as flavor observables seem to suggest, the search in the channel where G* decays into a heavy fermion plus its Standard Model partner is very promising, with the possibility for both the G* and heavy fermions to be discovered at the early stage of the LHC. The channel offers also the possibi…
The Forward-Backward Asymmetry (AFB) in $Z^\prime$ physics is commonly only perceived as the observable which possibly allows one to interpret a $Z^\prime$ signal by distinguishing different models of such (heavy) spin-1 bosons. In this article, we examine the potential of AFB in setting bounds on or even discovering a $Z^\prime$ at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and show that it might be a powerful tool for this purpose. We analyze two different scenarios: $Z^\prime$s with a narrow and wide width, respectively. We find that in both cases AFB can complement the cross section in accessing $Z^\…
At the LHC we are colliding protons, but it is not the protons that are doing the interacting. It is their constituents the quarks, antiquarks and gluons-collectively known as partons. We need to know how what fractional momentum of the proton each of these partons takes at the energy scale of LHC collisions, in order to understand LHC physics. Such parton momentum distributions are known as PDFs (Parton Distribution Functions) and are a field of study in their own right. However, it is now the case that the uncertainties on PDFs are a major contributor to the background to the discovery of ph…
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. We analyze the exotic decay of the discovered Higgs $(h_{125})$ into two light (hidden) Higgs bosons present in the extension. The latter are allowed by the uncertainties in the Higgs decay $h_{125}\to WW^*$, $h_{125}\to ZZ^*$ …
We study the purely leptonic $W$ decays $W^+ \to e^+ μ^- e^+ ν_e$ and $W^+ \to e^+ e^+ μ^- \bar ν_μ$ (or their charge conjugates) produced at the LHC, induced by sterile neutrinos with mass below $M_W$ in the intermediate state. While the first mode is induced by both Dirac or Majorana neutrinos, the second mode is induced only by Majorana neutrinos, as it violates lepton number. We find that, even when the final (anti-)neutrino goes undetected, one could distinguish between these two processes, thus distinguishing the Dirac or Majorana character of the sterile neutrinos, by studying the muon …
We study the sensitivity of top pair production with six-fermion decay at the LHC to the presence and nature of an underlying Z' boson, accounting for full tree-level Standard Model ttbar interference, with all intermediate particles allowed off-shell. We concentrate on the lepton-plus-jets final state and simulate experimental conditions, including kinematic requirements and top quark pair reconstruction in the presence of missing transverse energy and combinatorial ambiguity in jet-top assignment. We focus on the differential mass spectra of the cross section and asymmetry observables, espec…
USMEFT as a tool for discovery of universal new physics at high luminosity LHC
University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；Stony Brook University（石溪大学）；Universidade de São Paulo（圣保罗大学）；Universitat de Barcelona（巴塞罗那大学）；Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)（加泰罗尼亚研究与高级研究学院）
Extra neutral gauge bosons are a feature of many models of physics beyond the standard model (BSM) and their discovery could possibly be the first evidence for new physics. In this Snowmass white paper we compare the discovery reach of the high energy hadron colliders considered by the Snowmass study for a broad range of BSM models. It is expected that the LHC should be able to see evidence for a Z' arising from a large variety of BSM models up to a mass of ~5 TeV when the LHC reaches its design energy and luminosity, and up to ~6 TeV with the high luminosity upgrade. Further into the future, …
We examine the capability of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to discovery supersymmetry (SUSY) with energy \sqrt{s}=7 TeV and integrated luminosity of about 1 fb^{-1}. Our results are presented within the paradigm minimal supergravity model (mSUGRA or CMSSM). Using a 6-dimensional grid of cuts for optimization of signal to background-- including missing E_T-- we find for m_{\tg}\sim m_{\tq} an LHC reach of m_{\tg}\sim 800,\ 950,\ 1100 and 1200 GeV for 0.1, 0.3, 1 and 2 fb^{-1}, respectively. For m_{\tg}<< m_{\tq}, the reach is instead near m_{\tg}\sim 480,\ 540,\ 620 and 700 GeV, for the same i…
In this work we present a new search strategy for the discovery of staus at the LHC in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The search profits from the large s-channel $b$-quark annihilation production of the heavy CP-even and CP-odd Higgs bosons (H/A) which can be attained in regions of $\tanβ\gg 1$ that avoid the stringent $H/A \to τ^+ τ^-$ searches via decays into stau pairs. We also focus on regions where the staus branching ratios are dominated by the decays into a tau lepton and the lightest neutralino. Thus the experimental signature consists of final states made up…
We study the physics potential of the 8TeV LHC (LHC-8) to discover, during its 2012 run, a large class of extended gauge models or extra dimensional models whose low energy behavior is well represented by an SU(2)^2 x U(1) gauge structure. We analyze this class of models and find that with a combined integrated luminosity of 40-60/fb at the LHC-8, the first new Kaluza-Klein mode of the W gauge boson can be discovered up to a mass of about 370-400 GeV, when produced in association with a Z boson.
After the discovery of the BRST identities in 1974 Raymond spent some two years mostly on instantons. In those years we had a small group at the Centre Physique Théorique in Marseille discussing the physics and mathematics of instantons. The upshot of our discussions can be found in a set of lectures given by Raymond in Erice in 1977 and a year later in a Physics Reports volume. I present some recollections of that period; mostly how we were influenced by the twistor approach. I discuss the Atiyah-Drinfeld-Hitchin-Manin (ADHM) method to obtain instantons ("calorons") in thermal QCD following e…
We investigate the LHC discovery potential of R-parity violating supersymmetric models with a right-handed selectron or smuon as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). These LSPs arise naturally in R-parity violating minimal supergravity models. We classify the hadron collider signatures and perform for the first time within these models a detailed signal over background analysis. We develop an inclusive three-lepton search and give prospects for a discovery at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV as well as 14 TeV. There are extensive parameter regions which the LHC can already test with 7 T…
It is a common belief that the last missing piece of the Standard Model of particles physics was found with the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider. However, there remains a major prediction of quantum tunnelling processes mediated by instanton solutions in the Yang-Mills theory, that is still untested in the Standard Model. The direct experimental observation of instanton-induced processes, which are a consequence of the non-trivial vacuum structure of the Standard Model and of quantum tunnelling in QFT, would be a major breakthrough in modern particle physics. In this p…
What is the Higgs boson telling us? What else is there, maybe supersymmetry and/or dark matter? How do we find it? These are now the big questions in collider physics that I discuss in this talk, from a personal point of view.
In this brief review we study the discovery potential of heavy Higgs induced single-top, same-sign top and triple-top quark productions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The context is general two Higgs doublet model where such processes can be induced by additional Yukawa couplings and sub-Tev Higgs bosons. We show that these processes can be discovered at the ongoing or future high luminosity LHC run. Discovery of these multi-top productions may shed light on the mechanism behind baryogenesis or cosmic inflation.
We investigate the discovery potential of the LHC experiments for R-parity violating supersymmetric models with a stau as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the framework of minimal supergravity. We classify the final states according to their phenomenology for different R-parity violating decays of the LSP. We then develop event selection cuts for a specific benchmark scenario with promising signatures for the first beyond the Standard Model discoveries at the LHC. For the first time in this model, we perform a detailed signal over background analysis. We use fast detector simulati…
The 40 years old Standard Model, the theory of particle physics, seems to describe all experimental data very well. All of its elementary particles were identified and studied apart from the Higgs boson until 2012. For decades many experiments were built and operated searching for it, and finally, the two main experiments of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, CMS and ATLAS, in 2012 observed a new particle with properties close to those predicted for the Higgs boson. In this paper we outline the search story: the exclusion of the Higgs boson at LEP, the Large Electron Positron collider, and its…
This paper addresses the question of whether the International Linear Collider has the capability of discovering new particles that have not already been discovered at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We summarize the various paths to discovery offered by the ILC, and discuss them in the context of three different scenarios: 1. LHC does not discover any new particles, 2. LHC discovers some new low mass states and 3. LHC discovers new heavy particles. We will show that in each case, ILC plays a critical role in discovery of new phenomena and in pushing forward the frontiers of high-energy physic…
In this work, we aim to provide a comprehensive and largely model independent investigation on prospects to detect long-lived multiply charged particles at the LHC. We consider particles with spin 0 and $\frac{1}{2}$, with electric charges in range $1 \le |Q/e| \le 8$, which are singlet or triplet under $SU(3)_C$. Such particles might be produced as particle-antiparticle pairs and propagate through detectors, or form a positronium(quarkonium)-like bound state. We consider both possibilities and estimate lower mass bounds on new particles, that can be provided by ATLAS, CMS and MoEDAL experimen…
