No Arabic abstract
The possibility to simulate lepton number violating supersymmetric models has been introduced into the recently updated PYTHIA event generator, now containing 1278 decay channels of SUSY particles into SM particles via lepton number violating interactions. This generator has been used in combination with the ATLFAST detector simulation to study the impact of lepton number violation (LV) on event topologies in the ATLAS detector, and trigger menus designed for LV-SUSY are proposed based on very general considerations. In addition, a rather preliminary analysis is presented on the possibility for ATLAS to observe a signal above the background in several mSUGRA scenarios, using a combination of primitive cuts and neural networks to optimize the discriminating power between signal and background events over regions of parameter space rather than at individual points. It is found that a 5 sigma discovery is possible roughly for m_{1/2} < 1TeV and m_0 < 2TeV with an integrated luminosity of 30fb^{-1}, corresponding to one year of data taking with the LHC running at ``mid-luminosity, L = 3*10^{33}s^{-1}cm^{-2}.
In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the simultaneous appearance of lepton and baryon number violation causes the proton to decay much faster than the experimental bound allows. Customarily, a discrete symmetry known as R-parity is imposed to forbid these dangerous interactions. This work begins by arguing that there is no deep theoretical motivation for preferring R-parity over other discrete symmetries and continues by adopting the MSSM with baryon number conservation replacing R-parity conservation. For the purpose of studying the influence of the consequent lepton number violating interactions, 1278 new decay channels of supersymmetric particles into Standard Model particles have been included in the PYTHIA event generator. The augmented event generator is then used in combination with the atlfast detector simulation to study the impact of lepton number violation on event topologies in the ATLAS detector, and trigger menus designed for LV-SUSY are proposed based on very general conclusions. The subsequent analysis uses a combination of primitive cuts and neural networks to optimize the discriminating power between signal and background events. In all scenarios studied, it is found that a $5sigma$ discovery is possible for cross sections down to $10^{-10}$ mb with an integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$.
The prospects for the discovery and exploration of low-energy Supersymmetry at future colliders, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the future international linear electron positron collider (ILC) are summarized. The focus is on the experimental techniques that will be used to discover superpartners and to measure their properties. Special attention is given to the question how the results from both machines could influence each other, in particular when they have overlapping running time.
Phenomenological implications of a minimal extension to the Standard Model are considered, in which a Nambu-Goldstone boson emerges from the spontaneous breaking of a global U(1) symmetry. This is felt only by a scalar field which is a singlet under all Standard Model symmetries, and possibly by neutrinos. Mixing between the Standard Model Higgs boson field and the new singlet field may lead to predominantly invisible Higgs boson decays. The natural region in the Higgs boson mass spectrum is determined, where this minimally extended Standard Model is a valid theory up to a high scale related with the smallness of neutrino masses. Surprisingly, this region may coincide with low visibility of all Higgs bosons at the LHC. Monte-Carlo simulation studies of this nightmare situation are performed and strategies to search for such Higgs boson to invisible (Nambu-Goldstone boson) decays are discussed. It is possible to improve the signal-to-background ratio by looking at the distribution of either the total transverse momentum of the leptons and the missing transverse momentum, or by looking at the distribution of the azimuthal angle between the missing transverse momentum and the momentum of the lepton pair for the Z- and Higgs-boson associated production. We also study variations of the model with non-Abelian symmetries and present approximate formulae for Higgs boson decay rates. Searching for Higgs bosons in such a scenario at the LHC would most likely be solely based on Higgs to invisible decays.
Radiatively-driven natural supersymmetry (RNS) potentially reconciles the Z and Higgs boson masses close to 100 GeV with gluinos and squarks lying beyond the TeV scale. Requiring no large cancellations at the electroweak scale in constructing M_Z=91.2 GeV while maintaining a light Higgs scalar with m_h 125 GeV implies a sparticle mass spectrum including light higgsinos with mass 100-300 GeV, electroweak gauginos in the 300-1200 GeV range, gluinos at 1-4 TeV and top/bottom squarks in the 1-4 TeV range (probably beyond LHC reach), while first/second generation matter scalars can exist in the 5-30 TeV range (far beyond LHC reach). We investigate several characteristic signals for RNS at LHC14. Gluino pair production yields a reach up to m_{tg} 1.7 TeV for 300 fb^{-1}. Wino pair production -- pptotw_2tz_4 and tw_2tw_2 -- leads to a unique same-sign diboson (SSdB) signature accompanied by modest jet activity from daughter higgsino decays; this signature provides the best reach up to m_{tg} 2.1 TeV within this framework. Wino pair production also leads to final states with (WZto 3ell)+eslt as well as 4ell+eslt which give confirmatory signals up to m_{tg} 1.4 TeV. Directly produced light higgsinos yield a clean, soft trilepton signature (due to very low visible energy release) which can be visible, but only for a not-too-small a tz_2-tz_1 mass gap. The clean SSdB signal -- as well as the distinctive mass shape of the dilepton mass distribution from tz_{2,3}totz_1ellell decays if this is accessible -- will mark the presence of light higgsinos which are necessary for natural SUSY. While an e^+e^- collider operating with sqrt{s} 600 GeV should unequivocally reveal the predicted light higgsinos, the RNS model with m_{1/2}> 1 TeV may elude all LHC14 search strategies even while maintaining a high degree of electroweak naturalness.
The discovery potential of the LHC is investigated for the minimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking (mAMSB) scenario, using the ATLAS fast detector simulator, including track reconstruction and particle identification. Generic supersymmetry search cuts are used to map the 5-sigma (and >=10 event) discovery contours in the m_0 - m_3/2 plane. With 100 inverse fb of integrated luminosity the search will reach up to 2.8 TeV in the squark mass and 2.1 TeV in the gluino mass. We generalise a kinematical variable and demonstrate that it is sensitive to the small chargino-LSP mass splitting characteristic of AMSB models. By identifying tracks from chargino decays we show that the Wino-like nature of the LSP can be determined for a wide range of chargino lifetimes.