No Arabic abstract
We consider the universal extra dimensions scenario of Appelquist, Cheng, and Dobrescu, in which all of the SM fields propagate into one extra compact dimension, estimated therein to be as large as $sim (350$ GeV$)^{-1}$. Tree-level KK number conservation dictates that the associated KK excitations can not be singly produced. We calculate the cross sections for the direct production of KK excitations of the gluon, $gs$, and two distinct towers of quarks, qs and $qt$, in proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron Run I and II energies in addition to proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider energy. The experimental signatures for these processes depend on the stability of the lowest-lying KK excitations of the gluons and light quarks. We find that the Tevatron Run I mass bound for KK quark and gluon final states is about 350--400 GeV, while Run II can push this up to 450--500 GeV at its initial luminosity and 500--550 GeV if the projected final luminosity is reached. The LHC can probe much further: The LHC will either discover UED KK excitations of quarks and gluons or extend the mass limit to about 3 TeV.
We discuss the collider signals of large extra dimensions in which gravity as well as the SM particles propagate into the extra dimensions. These signals arise either from the production of Kaluza-Klein excitations of the SM particles and their subsequent decay, or from their off-shell exchanges. Depending on the scenario, the dominant signals are two high p_T jets + missing energy, two high p_T photons + missing energy and soft leptons, or a combination of photon + jet and missing energy. For the scenario in which only the gauge bosons propagate into the extra dimensions, Tevatron Run II (LHC) can observe such signals up to a compactification scale of about 2 TeV (7 TeV), while for the case of universal extra dimensions, the corresponding limits are about 600 GeV (3 TeV) respectively.
The minimal Universal Extra Dimension scenario is highly constrained owing to opposing constraints from the observed relic density on the one hand, and the non-observation of new states at the LHC on the other. Simple extensions in five-dimensions can only postpone the inevitable. Here, we propose a six-dimensional alternative with the key feature being that the SM quarks and leptons are localized on orthogonal directions whereas gauge bosons traverse the entire bulk. Several different realizations of electroweak symmetry breaking are possible, while maintaining agreement with low energy observables. This model is not only consistent with all the current constraints opposing the minimal Universal Extra Dimension scenario but also allows for a multi-TeV dark matter particle without the need for any fine-tuning. In addition, it promises a plethora of new signatures at the LHC and other future experiments.
In the universal extra dimensions (UED) scenario, the tree level masses of the first level Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitations of Standard Model particles are essentially degenerate. Radiative corrections will, however, lift this degeneracy, allowing the first level excitations to decay to the lightest KK particle (LKP), which is the gamma^*. KK number conservation implies that the LKP is stable. Then, since the SM particles radiated during these decays are rather soft, the observation of KK excitations production and decay in collider experiments will be quite difficult. We propose to add to this model KK number violating interactions mediated by gravity, which allow the gamma^* to decay to a photon and a KK graviton. For a variety a models and a large range of parameters, these decays will occur within the detector. Thus, pair production of KK excitations will give rise to a striking collider signal, consisting of two hard photons plus large missing energy (due to escaping gravitons). We evaluate the cross-section for these signals at the Tevatron and LHC, and derive the reach of these colliders in the search for universal extra dimensions.
Universal extra dimensions and supersymmetry have rather similar experimental signatures at hadron colliders. The proper interpretation of an LHC discovery in either case may therefore require further data from a lepton collider. In this paper we identify methods for discriminating between the two scenarios at the linear collider. We study the processes of Kaluza-Klein muon pair production in universal extra dimensions in parallel to smuon pair production in supersymmetry, accounting for the effects of detector resolution, beam-beam interactions and accelerator induced backgrounds. We find that the angular distributions of the final state muons, the energy spectrum of the radiative return photon and the total cross-section measurement are powerful discriminators between the two models. Accurate determination of the particle masses can be obtained both by a study of the momentum spectrum of the final state leptons and by a scan of the particle pair production thresholds. We also calculate the production rates of various Kaluza-Klein particles and discuss the associated signatures.
We review the six dimensional universal extra dimension models compactified on the sphere $S^2$, the orbifold $S^2/Z_2$, and the projective sphere, which are based on the spontaneous compactification mechanism on the sphere. In particular, we spell out the application of the Newman-Penrose eth-formalism on these models with some technical details on the derivation of the Kaluza-Klein modes and their interactions, and revisit the problem in the existence of the zero mode of $U(1)_X$ additional gauge boson required for the spontaneous compactification. We also explain the theoretical background on the vacuum stability argument for the upper bound on the ultraviolet cutoff scale.