Parton Density Uncertainties and the Determination of Electroweak Parameters at Hadron Colliders

We discuss the determination of electroweak parameters from hadron collider observables, focusing on the $W$ boson mass measurement. We revise the procedures adopted in the literature to include in the experimental analysis the uncertainty due to our imperfect knowledge of the proton structure. We show how the treatment of the proton parton density functions (PDFs) uncertainty as a source of systematic error, leads to the automatic inclusion in the fit of the bin-bin correlation of the kinematic distributions with respect to PDF variations. In the case of the determination of $M_W$ from the charged lepton transverse momentum distribution, we observe that the inclusion of this correlation factor yields a strong reduction of the PDF uncertainty, given a sufficiently good control over all the other error sources. This improvement depends on a systematic accounting of the features of the QCD-based PDF model, and it is achieved relying only on the information available in current PDF sets. While a realistic quantitative estimate requires to take into account the details of the experimental systematics, we argue that, in perspective, the proton PDF uncertainty will not be a bottleneck for precision measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; v2: title changed, minor textual changes, version published on PR

Towards precise predictions for Higgs-boson production in the MSSM

We study the production of scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons via gluon fusion and bottom-quark annihilation in the MSSM. Relying on the NNLO-QCD calculation implemented in the public code SusHi, we provide precise predictions for the Higgs-production cross section in six benchmark scenarios compatible with the LHC searches. We also provide a detailed discussion of the sources of theoretical uncertainty in our calculation. We examine the dependence of the cross section on the renormalization and factorization scales, on the precise definition of the Higgs-bottom coupling and on the choice of PDFs, as well as the uncertainties associated to our incomplete knowledge of the SUSY contributions through NNLO. In particular, a potentially large uncertainty originates from uncomputed higher-order QCD corrections to the bottom-quark contributions to gluon fusion.Comment: 62 pages, 24 pdf figures; v2: minor clarifications, improved plot quality, matches published versio

Supersymmetric Dark Matter after LHC Run 1

Different mechanisms operate in various regions of the MSSM parameter space to bring the relic density of the lightest neutralino, neutralino_1, assumed here to be the LSP and thus the Dark Matter (DM) particle, into the range allowed by astrophysics and cosmology. These mechanisms include coannihilation with some nearly-degenerate next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) such as the lighter stau (stau_1), stop (stop_1) or chargino (chargino_1), resonant annihilation via direct-channel heavy Higgs bosons H/A, the light Higgs boson h or the Z boson, and enhanced annihilation via a larger Higgsino component of the LSP in the focus-point region. These mechanisms typically select lower-dimensional subspaces in MSSM scenarios such as the CMSSM, NUHM1, NUHM2 and pMSSM10. We analyze how future LHC and direct DM searches can complement each other in the exploration of the different DM mechanisms within these scenarios. We find that the stau_1 coannihilation regions of the CMSSM, NUHM1, NUHM2 can largely be explored at the LHC via searches for missing E_T events and long-lived charged particles, whereas their H/A funnel, focus-point and chargino_1 coannihilation regions can largely be explored by the LZ and Darwin DM direct detection experiments. We find that the dominant DM mechanism in our pMSSM10 analysis is chargino_1 coannihilation: {parts of its parameter space can be explored by the LHC, and a larger portion by future direct DM searches.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Direct detection of Higgs-portal dark matter at the LHC

We consider the process in which a Higgs particle is produced in association with jets and show that monojet searches at the LHC already provide interesting constraints on the invisible decays of a 125 GeV Higgs boson. Using the existing monojet searches performed by CMS and ATLAS, we show the 95% confidence level limit on the invisible Higgs decay rate is of the order of the total Higgs production rate in the Standard Model. This limit could be significantly improved when more data at higher center of mass energies are collected, provided systematic errors on the Standard Model contribution to the monojet background can be reduced. We also compare these direct constraints on the invisible rate with indirect ones based on measuring the Higgs rates in visible channels. In the context of Higgs portal models of dark matter, we then discuss how the LHC limits on the invisible Higgs branching fraction impose strong constraints on the dark matter scattering cross section on nucleons probed in direct detection experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; v2: references added; v3: monojet and Higgs data updated, version published in EPJ

Quark masses in Higgs production with a jet veto

We study the impact of finite mass effects due to top and bottom loops in the jet-veto distribution for Higgs production. We discuss the appearance of non-factorizing logarithms in the region p t,veto ≳ m b . We study their numerical impact and argue that these terms can be treated as a finite remainder. We therefore detail our prescription for resumming the jet-vetoed cross section and for assessing its uncertainty in the presence of finite mass effects. Resummation for the jet-veto, including mass effects, has been implemented in the public code JetVHeto

Slepton pair production in the POWHEG BOX

We present an implementation for slepton pair production at hadron colliders in the POWHEG BOX, a framework for combining next-to-leading order QCD calculations with parton-shower Monte-Carlo programs. Our code provides a SUSY Les Houches Accord interface for setting the supersymmetric input parameters. Decays of the sleptons and parton-shower effects are simulated with PYTHIA. Focussing on a representative point in the supersymmetric parameter space we show results for kinematic distributions that can be observed experimentally. While next-to-leading order QCD corrections are sizable for all distributions, the parton shower affects the color-neutral particles only marginally. Pronounced parton-shower effects are found for jet distributions.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

On the NLO QCD corrections to the production of the heaviest neutral Higgs scalar in the MSSM

We present a calculation of the two-loop top-stop-gluino contributions to Higgs production via gluon fusion in the MSSM. By means of an asymptotic expansion in the heavy particle masses, we obtain explicit and compact analytic formulae that are valid when the Higgs and the top quark are lighter than stops and gluino, without assuming a specific hierarchy between the Higgs mass and the top mass. Being applicable to the heaviest Higgs scalar in a significant region of the MSSM parameter space, our results complement earlier ones obtained with a Taylor expansion in the Higgs mass, and can be easily implemented in computer codes to provide an efficient and accurate determination of the Higgs production cross section.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Heavy-quark mass effects in Higgs boson production at the LHC

We study the impact of heavy-quark masses in Higgs boson production through gluon fusion at the LHC. We extend previous computations of the fully differential cross section and of the transverse momentum spectrum of the Higgs boson by taking into account the finite top- and bottom-quark masses up to O(alpha_S^3). We also discuss the issues arising when the heavy-quark mass is much smaller than the Higgs mass. Our results are implemented in updated versions of the HNNLO and HRes numerical programs.Comment: Minor modifications, results unchanged. Discussion on uncertainties added. Version published on JHE

Top-mass effects in differential Higgs production through gluon fusion at order \alpha_s^4

Effects from a finite top quark mass on differential distributions in the Higgs+jet production cross section through gluon fusion are studied at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling, i.e. $O(\alpha_s^4)$. Terms formally subleading in $1/m_t$ are calculated, and their influence on the transverse momentum and rapidity distribution of the Higgs boson are evaluated. We find that, for the differential K-factor, the heavy-top limit is valid at the 2-3% level as long as the transverse momentum of the Higgs remains below about 150 GeV.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure