We describe SuperIso v4.1, a public code for calculation of flavour observables, in the Standard Model and for New Physics scenarios in a model-independent way as well as for specific beyond the SM models such as two Higgs doublet models (2HDM), minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM).
We present an overview of SuperIso v4.1 which is a public program for the calculation of flavour physics observables. We give examples of using SuperIso to constrain new physics scenarios with kaon physics and present the implications of rare B-decays.
We discuss the implications of B_s -> mu+mu- and B -> K*mu+mu- decays in the context of indirect searches for new physics, emphasising the new LHCb results. In particular, we derive the consequences of the MFV hypothesis and discuss the importance of the MFV predictions. The impact of the recent LHCb measurements in the context of the MSSM will also be addressed, and the SuperIso program will be briefly described.
We describe SuperIso Relic, a public program for the calculation of dark matter relic density and direct and indirect detection rates, which includes in addition the SuperIso routines for the calculation of flavour physics observables. SuperIso Relic v4 incorporates many new features, namely the possibility of multiprocessor calculation of the relic density, new cosmological models, and the implementations of the calculation of the observables related to direct and indirect detection experiments. Furthermore, the new version includes an implementation of the nuclear and astrophysical uncertain…
SuperIso Relic is a public computing program for the calculation of flavour observables and relic density in supersymmetry (MSSM and NMSSM). We present new extensions of the code dedicated to the calculation of dark matter direct and indirect detection constraints from the latest experimental results. Contrary to most of the existing programs, this new version allows the user to consider straightforwardly the uncertainties related to nuclear form factors, dark matter density and velocity, as well as cosmic-ray propagation through the galactic medium. The user thus finds a direct way to calcula…
The interplay of flavour and collider physics is entering a new era with the start-up of the LHC. During the past few years rare B decays and in particular b -> s gamma transitions have been extensively used and provided exciting opportunities for mapping possible routes beyond the SM. Flavour constraints play in this manner a complementary role to the direct searches. Here we present an overview of the existing flavour constraints on various models and show examples of comparison with the LHC discovery potentials. The SuperIso program which is dedicated to flavour physics observable calculati…
Motivated by tensions between experimental measurements and SM predictions in $b\to s \ell^+\ell^-$ transitions, we present the first study of non-minimal flavour-violating Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) scenarios contributing to the relevant Wilson coefficients to address the observed anomalies using SuperIso and MARTY. We calculate the full one-loop analytical contributions of the general MSSM to Wilson coefficients relevant for flavour anomalies, together with the anomalous muon magnetic dipole moment $(g-2)_μ$. We show that, after imposing theoretical constraints on the flavo…
We describe SuperIso v3.0 which is a public program for evaluation of flavor physics observables in the Standard Model (SM), general two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and next to minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). SuperIso v3.0, in addition to the branching ratio of B -> X_s gamma and the isospin asymmetry of B -> K* gamma, incorporates other flavor observables such as the branching ratio of B_s -> mu+ mu-, the branching ratio of B -> tau nu_tau, the branching ratio of B -> D tau nu_tau, the branching ratio of K -> mu nu_mu and the branchi…
We describe SuperIso Relic, a public program for evaluation of relic density and flavor physics observables in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). SuperIso Relic is an extension of the SuperIso program which adds to the flavor observables of SuperIso the computation of all possible annihiliation and coannihilation processes of the LSP which are required for the relic density calculation. All amplitudes have been generated at the tree level with FeynArts/FormCalc, and widths of the Higgs bosons are computed with FeynHiggs at the two-loop level. SuperIso Relic also…
Flavour physics observables are excellent probes of new physics up to very high energy scales. Here we present FlavBit, the dedicated flavour physics module of the global-fitting package GAMBIT. FlavBit includes custom implementations of various likelihood routines for a wide range of flavour observables, including detailed uncertainties and correlations associated with LHCb measurements of rare, leptonic and semileptonic decays of B and D mesons, kaons and pions. It provides a generalised interface to external theory codes such as SuperIso, allowing users to calculate flavour observables in a…
Based on flavour symmetries only, there are two ways to give rise to an effective description of flavour physics in the quark sector close to the CKM picture: one is based on $U(3)_q\times U(3)_u\times U(3)_d$ (or equivalent) and the other on $U(2)_q\times U(2)_u\times U(2)_d$ (or equivalent). In this context we analyze the current status of flavour physics measurements and we compare their impact, in the specific case of supersymmetry, with the direct searches of new particles at the LHC, present or foreseen.
This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at graduate students in particle theory/string theory/particle experiment familiar with the basics of the Standard Model. We explain the many reasons for the interest in flavour physics. We describe flavour physics and the related CP violation within the Standard Model, and explain how the B-factories proved that the Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism dominates the CP violation that is observed in meson decays. We explain the implications of flavour physics for new physics. We emphasize the "new physics flavour puzzle". As an explicit example, w…
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 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.
We give a pedagogical review of flavour and CP violation in the lepton sector, with a particular emphasis on new physics - and in particular supersymmetric - contributions to flavour and CP violating observables involving leptons.
The origin of flavour and CP violation is among the most important open questions in particle physics. Imminent results from the LHC as well as planned dedicated flavour physics experiments might help to shed light on this puzzle. This talk concentrates on the NP sensitivity of the rare B decays B(s,d) -> mu+ mu- and B -> K* mu+ mu- and of the CP violating phase in B(s) mixing. A brief summary of a supersymmetric model with interesting signatures in the flavour sector is presented.
We discuss the role of flavour physics in building effective theories at the TeV scale. Particular attention is devoted to the Minimal Flavour Violation hypothesis, both in the quark and in the lepton sector. Alternative flavour-protection mechanisms, such as the hierarchical fermion profiles of models with a warped fifth dimension, are also briefly discussed.
Based on a view of current flavour physics and motivated by the hierarchy problem and by the pattern of quark masses and mixings, I describe a picture of flavour physics that should give rise in a not too distant future to observable deviations from the SM in Higgs compositeness and/or in B-decays with violations of Lepton Flavour Universality, as hinted by current data, or perhaps even in supersymmetry, depending on the specific realisation.
The open problems and the most recent developments in flavour physics are briefly reviewed. Particular attention is devoted to the current "anomalies" in the CKM picture and their possible interpretation in beyond-the-Standard-Model frameworks.
These notes represent a summary of three lectures on flavour and CP violation, given at the CERNs European School of High Energy Physics in 2014. They cover flavour physics within the standard model, phenomenology of CP violation in meson mixing and decays, as well as constraints of flavour observableson physics beyond the standard model. In preparing the lectures (and consequently this summary) I drew heavily from several existing excellent and exhaustive sets of lecture notes and reviews on flavour physics and CP violation [1]. The reader is encouraged to consult those as well as the origina…
Squark and gluino decays are governed by the same mixing matrices as the contributions to flavour violating loop transitions of B-mesons. This allows for possible direct correlations between flavour non-diagonal observables in B and high-p_T physics. The present bounds on squark mixing, induced by the low-energy data on b to s transitions, still allow for large contributions to flavour violating squark decays at tree level. Due to the restrictions in flavour tagging at the LHC, additional information from future flavour experiments will be necessary to interpret those LHC data properly. Also t…
These lecture notes provide an introduction to the theoretical concepts of flavour physics and CP violation, based on a series of lectures given at the ESHEP 2016 summer school. In the first lecture we review the basics of flavour and CP violation in the Standard Model. The second lecture is dedicated to the phenomenology of K and B meson decays, where we focus on a few representative observables. In the third lecture we give an introduction to flavour physics beyond the Standard Model, both within the framework of Minimal Flavour Violation and beyond.
We review the recent highlights of theoretical flavour physics, based on the theory summary talk given at FPCP2017. Over the past years, a number of intriguing anomalies have emerged in flavour violating $K$ and $B$ meson decays, constituting some of the most promising hints for the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model. We discuss the theory status of these anomalies and outline possible future directions to test the underlying New Physics.
We propose renormalizable models of new physics that can explain various anomalies observed in decays of B-mesons to electron and muon pairs. The new physics states couple to linear combinations of Standard Model fermions, yielding a pattern of flavour violation that gives a consistent fit to the gamut of flavour data. Accidental symmetries prevent contributions to baryon- and lepton-number-violating processes, as well as enforcing a loop suppression of new physics contributions to flavour violating processes. Data require that the new flavour-breaking couplings are largely aligned with the Yu…
We study the implications of the presence of the two leading-order, non-renormalizable operators in the Higgs sector of the MSSM to flavour physics observables. We identify the constraints of flavour physics on the parameters of the BMSSM when we: a) focus on a region of parameters for which electroweak baryogenesis is feasible, b) use a CMSSM-like parametrization, and c) consider the case of a generic NUHM-type model. We find significant differences as compared to the standard MSSM case.
In these three lectures, I overview the theoretical framework of the flavour physics and CP violation. The first lecture is the introduction to the flavour physics. Namely, I give theoretical basics of the weak interaction. I follow also some historical aspect, discovery of the CP violation, phenomenological studies of charged and neutral currents and the success of the GIM mechanism. In the second lecture, I describe the flavour physics and CP violating phenomena in the Standard Model (SM). I also give the latest experimental observation of the CP Violation at the B factories and the LHC and …
Flavour physics represents one of the most interesting and, at the same time, less understood sector of the Standard Theory. On the one hand, the peculiar pattern of quark and lepton masses, and their mixing angles, may be the clue to some new dynamics occurring at high-energy scales. On the other hand, the strong suppression of flavour-changing neutral-current processes, predicted by the Standard Theory and confirmed by experiments, represents a serious challenge to extend the Theory. This article reviews both these aspects of flavour physics from a theoretical perspective.
We briefly review flavour violation in the lepton sector: starting from neutrino oscillations and their implications, we consider several charged lepton flavour violating observables at high and low energies. We present new physics models and discuss the rôle of the latter in disentangling them. In particular, we show how the interplay of different observables allows to derive important information on the underlying mechanism of lepton flavour violation. As an example, we discuss the impact of a type-I SUSY seesaw concerning lepton flavour violation at low energies and at colliders (LHC and a …
I present a brief summary of the main results on flavour physics beyond the Standard Model that have been obtained in 2008 by my collaborators and myself at the TUM. In particular I list main messages coming from our analyses of flavour and CP-violating processes in Supersymmetry, the Littlest Higgs model with T-Parity and a warped extra dimension model with custodial protection for flavour violating $Z$ boson couplings.
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.
After a short introduction to the SUSY flavour problem, we focus the attention on the MSSM with MFV and large $\tanβ$. The theoretical motivations and the general features of this scenario are briefly reviewed. The possible signatures in low-energy flavour-violating observables are discussed, with particular attention to the role played by $\BR(P\to\ellν)$, $\BR(B_{s,d}\to \ell^+\ell^-)$ and $\BR(μ\to e γ)$
We show that a combined analysis of $B\to Kν\barν$ and $B\to Kl^+l^-$ allows for new physics tests practically free of form factor uncertainties. Residual theory errors are at the level of several percent. Our study underlines the excellent motivation for measuring these modes at a Super Flavour Factory.
If observed, charged lepton flavour violation is a clear sign of new physics - beyond the Standard Model minimally extended to accommodate neutrino oscillation data. After a brief review of several charged lepton flavour violation observables and their current experimental status, we consider distinct extensions of the Standard Model which could potentially give rise to observable signals, focusing on the case of models in which the mechanism of neutrino mass generation is the common source of neutral and charged lepton flavour violation.
We present the invited lectures given at the second Asia-Europe-Pacific School of High-Energy Physics (AEPSHEP), which took place in Puri, India in November 2014. The series of lectures aimed at graduate students in particle experiment/theory, covering the very basics of flavor physics and CP violation, some useful theoretical methods such as OPE and effective field theories, and some selected topics of flavour physics in the era of LHC.
Until now the focus within the direct search for supersymmetry has mainly been on flavour diagonal observables. Recently lepton flavour violating signals at future electron positron colliders have been studied. There is now an opportunity to analyse the relations between collider observables and low-energy observables in the hadronic sector. In a first work in this direction, we study flavour violation in the squark decays of the second and third generations taking into account results from B physics, in particular from the rare decay b ->s gamma. Correlations between various squark decay mode…
The future of flavour physics and CP violation in the quark, lepton and Higgs sectors are discussed, particularly from the viewpoint of physics beyond the Standard Model, such as supersymmetry. Current issues in B to pi^+ pi^-, phi K_s and D^*+ D^*-, B_s physics and rare B decays are reviewed. The prospects for seeing flavour and CP violation in the charged-lepton sector are discussed, using the minimal supersymmetric seesaw model as a guide. Finally, the possible consequences of CP violation in the Higgs sector are mentioned.
The possible role of precision flavour physics, and particularly of B physics, in the next decade is briefly discussed. Few 2--3$σ$ deviations from the Standard Model found in present $B$ data are reviewed as potential forerunners of new physics signals to be looked for in next-generation experiments. The perspectives for theoretical calculations, in particular those based on lattice QCD, to match the expected progress in experimental precision are also discussed.
We review the Spring 2022 status of the current $B$ anomalies and their possible interpretation in terms of New Phsyics. We also discuss the discovery potential of targeted LHC and future collider searches for the underlying new particles and their complementarity with low-energy flavour observables.
In this review article, we highlight the impact of models incorporating flavour symmetries on charged lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes. Flavour symmetries provide a natural approach to explain the peculiar mass hierarchies and mixing patterns of the Standard Model fermions. New sources of LFV are generally present in new physics beyond the Standard Model, and flavour symmetries can make distinctive predictions for LFV observables. Their discovery can provide crucial information to distinguish flavour symmetries and new physics scenarios in general. Because of their high sensitivity, we…
The current status of the theory and phenomenology of weak decays of hadrons containing a heavy quark is reviewed. Exclusive semileptonic and rare decays of $B$ mesons are discussed, as well as inclusive decay rates, the semileptonic branching ratio of the $B$ meson, and the lifetimes of $b$-flavoured hadrons. Determinations of $α_s$ from $Υ$ spectroscopy are briefly presented.
We summarize the results on patterns of flavour violation in a Randall-Sundrum model with custodial protection (RSc) and compare them with those identified in the Littlest Higgs Model with T--parity (LHT) and in a number of SUSY Flavour Models. While K decays play in this presentation a prominent role, the inclusion of B physics and lepton flavour violation is crucial in the distinction between these three popular extensions of the Standard Model (SM) by means of flavour physics.
We present an overview of recent work on flavour physics in the presence of a sequential fourth generation. We will discuss shortly the constraints on the new parameters and in the reminder present predictions for observables like Br(B_s -> mu+ mu-), Br(K -> pi nu nubar) and the indirect CP violation S(psi phi) in the B_s system. We will further stress the importance of epsilon'/epsilon as a possible constraint once reliable lattice results for B_6 and B_8 become available. Lepton flavour violation is also briefly discussed in view of prospects for tau physics at an upgraded flavour factory as…
If the mechanism of Supersymmetry breaking is not flavour blind, some flavour symmetry is likely to be needed to prevent excessive flavour changing neutral current effects. We discuss two flavour models (based respectively on a U(2) and on a SU(3) horizontal symmetry) providing a good fit to fermion masses and mixings and particularly constraining the supersymmetry soft breaking terms. We show that, while reproducing successfully the Standard Model fit of the unitarity triangle, it is possible to obtain sizable deviations from the Standard Model predictions for three very clean B-physics obser…
Recent development in exploring flavour dynamics in the supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model is reviewed. Emphasis is put on possible interesting effects in b-physics arising for large values of tan beta both in the case of minimal flavour violation and in the case of flavour violation originating in the sfermion sector. The importance of the flavour changing neutral Higgs boson couplings generated by the scalar penguin diagrams and their role in the interplay of neutral B-meson mixing and B^0_{d,s} --> mu^+ mu^- decays is discussed. It is pointed out that observation of the B^0_d --…
We review the main aspects of Flavour Physics and CP Violation in the Standard Model. After presenting a grand view of the field including a Master Formula for weak decays we discuss i) Standard analysis of the unitarity triangle, ii) The ratio epsilon'/epsilon, iii) Rare decays K^+ -> pi^+ nu barnu and K_L -> pi^0 nu barnu, iv) CP violation in B decays and v) Models with Minimal Flavour Violation. Our review ends with 20 questions that hopefully will be answered in the coming years.
Extending the Standard Model with higher-dimensional operators in an effective-field-theory (EFT) approach provides a systematic framework to study new-physics (NP) effects from a bottom-up perspective, as long as the NP scale is sufficiently large compared to the energies probed in the experimental observables. However, when taking into account the different quark and lepton flavours, the number of free parameters increases dramatically, which makes generic studies of the NP flavour structure infeasible. In this paper, we address this issue in view of the recently observed "flavour anomalies"…
We add an energy-independent Hamiltonian to the standard flavour oscillation one. This kind of physics might appear in theories where neutrinos couple differently to a plausible non-zero torsion of the gravitational field or more dramatically in the presence of CPT-violating physics in the flavour oscillations. If this contribution exists, experiments at higher energies are more sensitive to their free parameters, and flavour conversion could be severely modified. We show that this new physics modifies the neutrino mixing angles and find expressions that relate the new, effective, angles to th…
The flavour observables currently in the spotlight because of the recent experimental updates or because of the presence of tensions with the Standard Model predictions are reviewed in their main aspects. These quantities suggest the development of a particular strategy for testing the viability of Beyond Standard Model scenarios that is applied for a qualitative analysis of different patterns of flavour violation.
Recently H. Georgi has introduced an unparticle $\unpart$ in order to describe the low energy physics of a nontrivial scale invariant sector of an effective theory. In this work we have explored the phenomenology of an unparticle using the lepton flavour violating decay $μ^{-}\to e^{-} e^{+} e^{-}$, and found that the branching ratio of this decay is strongly dependent on the scaling dimension.
We present the results of an extensive analysis of flavour physics in both quark and lepton sectors, in the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity (LHT). In the quark sector, we identify some interesting scenarios for new mirror quark masses and V_Hd mixing matrix that satisfy the existing experimental constraints from K and B physics and simultaneously allow large New Physics effects in rare decays and CP-violating observables. In the lepton sector, where flavour violation in the Standard Model is highly suppressed by small neutrino masses, LHT effects turn out to be naturally huge and could be s…
The Littlest Higgs Model with T parity (LHT) is an interesting alternative model for New Physics at the TeV scale. Although Flavour Physics was not the reason for creating the LHT model, significant effects (such as large CP violation where not predicted by the SM) can be created without violating existing experimental bounds. We study the B-, K- and especially the D-sector.
At the HERA collider at DESY, high energy electron and positron beams interact with proton beams. A review is presented of the variety of ways in which these collisions produce final states containing charm and beauty quarks.
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 consider the impact of several flavour-changing observables in the $B$- and the Kaon sectors on the parameter space of the NMSSM, in a minimal flavour violating version of this model. Our purpose consists in updating our previous results in arXiv:0710.3714 and designing an up-to-date flavour test for the public package NMSSMTools. We provide details concerning our implementation of the constraints in a series of brief reviews of the current status of the considered channels. Finally, we present a few consequences of these flavour constraints for the NMSSM, turning to two specific scenarios:…
Precision measures of electroweak and flavour observables, at both low and high energies, are highly complementary to direct searches for New Physics at high-energy colliders. Despite the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, and of the overwhelming successes of the Standard Model, several observational and theoretical problems remain to be addressed. In addition to neutrino oscillation phenomena, the Standard Model fails to explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, and does not offer a viable dark matter candidate. In recent years, numerous deviations between the Stan…
In these proceedings we give a concise review of some selected flavour-violation processes and their implications for two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs) and the MSSM. The processes under investigation are $ΔF=2$ processes, $B_s\toμ^+μ^-$, $b\to sγ$, and tauonic $B$ decays. For each process we show the impact on the models.
Top quark physics at the LHC may open a window to physics beyond the standard model and even lead us to an understanding of the phenomenon "flavour". However, current flavour data is a strong hint that no "new physics" with a generic flavour structure can be expected in the TeV scale. In turn, if there is "new physics" at the TeV scale, it must be "minimally flavour violating". This has become a widely accepted assumption for "new physics" models. In this paper we propose a model-independent scheme to test minimal flavour violation for the anomalous charged $Wtq$, $q\in{d,s,b}$, and flavour-ch…
A global fit to quark flavour-physics data disfavours the Standard Model with 3.6 standard deviations and points towards new CP-violating physics in meson-antimeson mixing amplitudes. Tevatron data call for a new Bs-Bs-bar mixing phase and new physics in Bd-Bd-bar mixing alleviates the tension on the unitarity triangle driven by B(B-> tau nu). In supersymmetric GUT models the large atmospheric neutrino mixing angle can influence b -> s transitions. I present the results of a recent analysis in an SO(10) GUT model which accomodates the large Bs-Bs-bar mixing phase while simultaneously obeying a…