A significant part of the parameter space for light stop squarks still remains unconstrained by collider searches. For both R-Parity Conserving (RPC) and R-Parity Violating (RPV) scenarios there are regions in which the stop mass is around or below t
he top quark mass that are particularly challenging experimentally. Here we review the status of light stop searches, both in RPC and RPV scenarios. We also propose strategies, generally based on exploiting b-tagging, to cover the unconstrained regions.
The LHC searches for light compressed stop squarks have resulted in considerable bounds in the case where the stop decays to a neutralino and a charm quark. However, in the case where the stop decays to a neutralino, a bottom quark and two fermions v
ia an off-shell W-boson, there is currently a significant unconstrained region in the stop-neutralino mass plane, still allowing for stop masses in the range 90-140 GeV. In this paper we propose a new monojet-like search for light stops, optimized for the four-body decay mode, in which at least one $b$-tagged jet is required. We show that, already by using the existing 8 TeV LHC data set, such a search would cover the entire unconstrained region. Moreover, in the process of validating our tools against an ATLAS monojet search, we show that the existing limit can be extended to exclude also stop masses below 100 GeV.
In this note we discuss a characteristic collider signature of models of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking in which the selectron and smuon are mass-degenerate co-NLSP. In these models, all processes involving superpartners give rise to two NLSP
selectrons or smuons, each of which subsequently decays to a nearly massless LSP gravitino and an electron or a muon. In a large region of the parameter space, the NLSPs travel macroscopic distances, of the order 0.1-1000 mm, before they decay. Hence, these models give rise to collider signatures involving charged tracks that end at vertices, which are inside the detector volume but displaced with respect to the original collision point, from which an electron or a muon is emitted. In order to probe this class of models we propose a search for disappearing charged tracks in association with displaced electrons or muons.
Motivated by the absence of any clear signal of physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC after Run I, we discuss one possible slight hint of new physics and one non-minimal extension of the Standard Model. In the first part we provide a tentative
explanation of a small excess of multilepton events, observed by the CMS collaboration, by means of a simplified model of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. In the second part we discuss how the standard phenomenology of gauge mediation can be significantly modified if one makes the non-minimal assumption that supersymmetry is broken in more than one hidden sector. Such multiple hidden sector models involve light neutral fermions called pseudo-goldstini and, due to the extra decay steps they induce, where soft photons are emitted, these models give rise to multiphoton plus missing energy signatures. We discuss why the existing LHC searches are poorly sensitive to these model and we propose new searches designed to probe them.
We discuss gauge mediation models in which the smuon and the selectron are mass-degenerate co-NLSP, which we, for brevity, refer to as selectron NLSP. In these models, the stau, as well as the other superpartners, are parametrically heavier than the
NLSP. We start by taking a bottom-up perspective and investigate the conditions under which selectron NLSP spectra can be realized in the MSSM. We then give a complete characterization of gauge mediation models realizing such spectra at low energies. The splitting between the slepton families is induced radiatively by the usual hierarchies in the Standard Model Yukawa couplings and hence, no new sources of flavour misalignment are introduced. We construct explicit weakly coupled messenger models which give rise to selectron NLSP, while accommodating a 126 GeV MSSM Higgs mass, both within the framework of General Gauge Mediation and in extensions where direct couplings between the messengers and the Higgs fields are present. In the latter class of models, large A-terms and relatively light stops can be achieved. The collider signatures of these models typically involve multilepton final states. We discuss the relevant LHC bounds and provide examples of models where the decay of the NLSP selectron is prompt, displaced or long-lived. The prompt case can be viewed as an ultraviolet completion of a simplified model recently considered by the CMS collaboration.
