No Arabic abstract
In view of the discovery of a new boson by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the LHC, we present an update of the global Standard Model (SM) fit to electroweak precision data. Assuming the new particle to be the SM Higgs boson, all fundamental parameters of the SM are known allowing, for the first time, to overconstrain the SM at the electroweak scale and assert its validity. Including the effects of radiative corrections and the experimental and theoretical uncertainties, the global fit exhibits a p-value of 0.07. The mass measurements by ATLAS and CMS agree within 1.3sigma with the indirect determination M_H=(94 +25 -22) GeV. Within the SM the W boson mass and the effective weak mixing angle can be accurately predicted to be M_W=(80.359 +- 0.011) GeV and sin^2(theta_eff^ell)=(0.23150 +- 0.00010) from the global fit. These results are compatible with, and exceed in precision, the direct measurements. For the indirect determination of the top quark mass we find m_t=(175.8 +2.7 -2.4) GeV, in agreement with the kinematic and cross-section based measurements.
We examine the Inert Doublet Model in light of the discovery of a Higgs-like boson with a mass of roughly 126 GeV at the LHC. We evaluate one-loop corrections to the scalar masses and perform a numerical solution of the one-loop renormalization group equations. Demanding vacuum stability, perturbativity, and S-matrix unitarity, we compute the scale up to which the model can be extrapolated. From this we derive constraints on the model parameters in the presence of a 126 GeV Higgs boson. We perform an improved calculation of the dark matter relic density with the Higgs mass fixed to the measured value, taking into account the effects of three- and four-body final states resulting from off-shell production of gauge bosons in dark matter annihilation. Issues related to direct detection of dark matter are discussed, in particular the role of hadronic uncertainties. The predictions for the interesting decay mode h ->gamma gamma are presented for scenarios which fulfill all model constraints, and we discuss how a potential enhancement of this rate from the charged inert scalar is related to the properties of dark matter in this model. We also apply LHC limits on Higgs boson decays to invisible final states, which provide additional constraints on the mass of the dark matter candidate. Finally, we propose three benchmark points that capture different aspects of the relevant phenomenology.
The Standard Model of fundamental interactions, albeit an incredibly elegant and successful theory, lacks explanations for some experimental and theoretical open questions. Interestingly, many of these problems seem to be related to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector of the theory, whose dynamical generation is still unknown. Important questions such as what is the true nature of the Higgs boson, why is its mass so light and so close to that of the electroweak gauge bosons or whether the properties of this particle are the ones predicted in the Standard Model remain unanswered. The LHC is our tool to unveil these mysteries and vector boson scattering processes are the perfect window to access them, since they are considered as the most sensitive observables to new physics in the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. In this Thesis we employ the effective electroweak chiral Lagrangian with a light Higgs, which assumes a strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector, to perform a model independent analysis of the phenomenology of vector boson scattering processes at the LHC as well as to present quantitative predictions for the sensitivity to possible beyond the Standard Model physics scenarios.
At the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), both the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations have been searching for light charged Higgs bosons via top (anti)quark production and decays channels, like $ppto t bar{t}$ with one top (anti)quark decaying into a charged Higgs boson and a $b$ (anti)quark, when the decay is kinematically open (i.e., when $m_{H^pm}lesssim m_t$). In this paper, we propose new searches at the LHC involving light charged Higgs bosons via their pair production channels like $ppto H^pm h/A$ and $ppto H^+ H^-$ in the 2-Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) Type-I and -X scenarios. By focusing on the case where the heavy $H$ state plays the role of the Standard Model (SM)-like Higgs boson with a mass near 125 GeV, we study the aforementioned Higgs boson pair production channels and investigate their bosonic decays, such as $H^pm to W^{pm } h$ and/or $H^pm to W^{pm } A$. We demonstrate that for a light charged Higgs boson state, with $m_{H^pm}lesssim m_t$, at the LHC, such di-Higgs production and decay channels can give rise to signatures with event rates much larger than those emerging from $ppto tbar{t}to tbar{b} H^-$ + c.c. We specifically study $h/Ato bbar b$ and $tau^+tau^-$ decays. We, therefore, claim that the discussed combination of new production and decay modes can result in an alternative discovery channel for charged Higgs bosons lighter than the top (anti)quark at the LHC within the above two 2HDM Types. Finally, in order to motivate experimentalists in ATLAS and CMS to search for such signatures, we propose 16 Benchmark Points (BPs) which are compatible with both theoretical and experimental constraints.
Vector-boson scattering (VBS) processes probe the innermost structure of electroweak interactions in the Standard Model, and provide a unique sensitivity for new physics phenomena affecting the gauge sector. In this review, we report on the salient aspects of this class of processes, both from the theory and experimental point of view. We start by discussing recent achievements relevant for their theoretical description, some of which have set important milestones in improving the precision and accuracy of the corresponding simulations. We continue by covering the development of experimental techniques aimed at detecting these rare processes and improving the signal sensitivity over large backgrounds. We then summarise the details of the most relevant VBS signatures and review the related measurements available to date, along with their comparison with Standard-Model predictions. We conclude by discussing the perspective at the upcoming Large Hadron Collider runs and at future hadron facilities.
In this paper, we demonstrate the LHC discovery potential of new charged vector boson $W_1^{pm}$ predicted by the Minimal Higgsless model in the process $ppto W_1^{pm}qq^{prime}to W^{pm}Z^0qq^primeto ell^{pm}ell^+ell^- u qq^{prime}(ell=e,mu)$ by analyzing the generator level events of the signal and backgrounds. The generator for the signal $pp to {W_1}^{pm}qq^primeto W^{pm}Z^0qq^prime$ at tree level is developed with the Minimal Higgsless model and then interfaced with PYTHIA for the parton showers and hadronization. The backgrounds are produced with PYTHIA and ACERMC. We give integrated luminosities required to discover 5$sigma$ signal as a function of $W_1^{pm}$ mass.