Search strategies for top partners in composite Higgs models

We consider how best to search for top partners in generic composite Higgs models. We begin by classifying the possible group representations carried by top partners in models with and without a custodial SU(2) × SU(2) ⋊ ℤ $$\mathbb{Z}$$ 2 symmetry protecting the rate for Z → b b ¯ $$b\overline{b}$$ decays. We identify a number of minimal models whose top partners only have electric charges of 1 3 $$\frac{1}{3}$$ , 2 3 $$\frac{2}{3}$$ , or 4 3 $$\frac{4}{3}$$ and thus decay to top or bottom quarks via a single Higgs or electroweak gauge boson. We develop an inclusive search for these based on a top veto, which we find to be more effective than existing searches. Less minimal models feature light states that can be sought in final states with like-sign leptons and so we find that 2 straightforward LHC searches give a reasonable coverage of the gamut of composite Higgs models

Improving estimates of the number of ‘fake’ leptons and other mis-reconstructed objects in hadron collider events: BoB’s your UNCLE

We consider current and alternative approaches to setting limits on new physics signals having backgrounds from misidentified objects; for example jets misidentified as leptons, b -jets or photons. Many ATLAS and CMS analyses have used a heuristic “matrix method” for estimating the background contribution from such sources. We demonstrate that the matrix method suffers from statistical shortcomings that can adversely affect its ability to set robust limits. A rigorous alternative method is discussed, and is seen to produce fake rate estimates and limits with better qualities, but is found to be too costly to use. Having investigated the nature of the approximations used to derive the matrix method, we propose a third strategy that is seen to marry the speed of the matrix method to the performance and physicality of the more rigorous approach

The MC@NLO 2.0 Event Generator

This is the user's manual of MC@NLO 2.0. This package is a practical implementation, based upon the HERWIG event generator, of the MC@NLO formalism, which allows one to incorporate NLO QCD matrix elements consistently into a parton shower framework. The processes available in this version are those of vector boson pair and heavy quark pair production in hadron collisions. This document is self-contained, but we emphasise the main differences with respect to version 1.0

The Pandora software development kit for pattern recognition

The development of automated solutions to pattern recognition problems is important in many areas of scientific research and human endeavour. This paper describes the implementation of the Pandora software development kit, which aids the process of designing, implementing and running pattern recognition algorithms. The Pandora Application Programming Interfaces ensure simple specification of the building-blocks defining a pattern recognition problem. The logic required to solve the problem is implemented in algorithms. The algorithms request operations to create or modify data structures and the operations are performed by the Pandora framework. This design promotes an approach using many decoupled algorithms, each addressing specific topologies. Details of algorithms addressing two pattern recognition problems in High Energy Physics are presented: reconstruction of events at a high-energy e+e- linear collider and reconstruction of cosmic ray or neutrino events in a liquid argon time projection chamber

Conductivity and entanglement entropy of high dimensional holographic superconductors

We investigate the dependence of the conductivity and the entanglement entropy on the space-time dimensionality d in two holographic superconductors: one dual to a quantum critical point with spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the other modeled by a charged scalar that condenses at a sufficiently low temperature in the presence of a Maxwell field. In both cases the gravity background is asymptotically Anti de Sitter (AdS). In the large d limit we obtain explicit analytical results for the conductivity at zero temperature and the entanglement entropy by a 1 /d expansion. We show that the entanglement entropy is always smaller in the broken phase. As dimensionality increases, the entanglement entropy decreases, the coherence peak in the conductivity becomes narrower and the ratio between the energy gap and the critical temperature decreases. These results suggest that the condensate interactions become weaker in high spatial dimensions

Determination of the top quark mass from leptonic observables

We present a procedure for the determination of the mass of the top quark at the LHC based on leptonic observables in dilepton t t ¯ $$t\overline{t}$$ events. Our approach utilises the shapes of kinematic distributions through their few lowest Mellin moments; it is notable for its minimal sensitivity to the modelling of long-distance effects, for not requiring the reconstruction of top quarks, and for having a competitive precision, with theory errors on the extracted top mass of the order of 0.8 GeV. A novel aspect of our work is the study of theoretical biases that might influence in a dramatic way the determination of the top mass, and which are potentially relevant to all template-based methods. We propose a comprehensive strategy that helps minimise the impact of such biases, and leads to a reliable top mass extraction at hadron colliders

Individuality and universality in the growth-division laws of single E. coli cells

The mean size of exponentially dividing E. coli cells cultured in different nutrient conditions is known to depend on the mean growth rate only. However, the joint fluctuations relating cell size, doubling time and individual growth rate are only starting to be characterized. Recent studies in bacteria (i) revealed the near constancy of the size extension in a single cell cycle (adder mechanism), and (ii) reported a universal trend where the spread in both size and doubling times is a linear function of the population means of these variables. Here, we combine experiments and theory and use scaling concepts to elucidate the constraints posed by the second observation on the division control mechanism and on the joint fluctuations of sizes and doubling times. We found that scaling relations based on the means both collapse size and doubling-time distributions across different conditions, and explain how the shape of their joint fluctuations deviates from the means. Our data on these joint fluctuations highlight the importance of cell individuality: single cells do not follow the dependence observed for the means between size and either growth rate or inverse doubling time. Our calculations show that these results emerge from a broad class of division control mechanisms (including the adder mechanism as a particular case) requiring a certain scaling form of the so-called "division hazard rate function", which defines the probability rate of dividing as a function of measurable parameters. This gives a rationale for the universal body-size distributions observed in microbial ecosystems across many microbial species, presumably dividing with multiple mechanisms. Additionally, our experiments show a crossover between fast and slow growth in the relation between individual-cell growth rate and division time, which can be understood in terms of different regimes of genome replication control

Composite leptoquarks and anomalies in B -meson decays

We attempt to explain recent anomalies in semileptonic B decays at LHCb via a composite Higgs model, in which both the Higgs and an SU(2) L -triplet leptoquark arise as pseudo-Goldstone bosons of the strong dynamics. Fermion masses are assumed to be generated via the mechanism of partial compositeness, which largely determines the leptoquark couplings and implies non-universal lepton interactions. The latter are needed to accommodate tensions in the b → sμμ dataset and to be consistent with a discrepancy measured at LHCb in the ratio of B + → K + μ + μ − to B + → K + e + e − branching ratios. The data imply that the leptoquark should have a mass of around a TeV. We find that the model is not in conflict with current flavour or direct production bounds, but we identify a few observables for which the new physics contributions are close to current limits and where the leptoquark is likely to show up in future measurements. The leptoquark will be pair-produced at the LHC and decay predominantly to third-generation quarks and leptons, and LHC13 searches will provide further strong bounds

Resummation of the transverse-energy distribution in Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider

We compute the resummed hadronic transverse-energy ( E T ) distribution due to initial-state QCD radiation in the production of a Standard Model Higgs boson of mass 126 GeV by gluon fusion at the Large Hadron Collider, with matching to next-to-leading order calculations at large E T . Effects of hadronization, underlying event and limited detector acceptance are estimated using aMC@NLO with the Herwig++ and Pythia8 event generators

Associated jet and subjet rates in light-quark and gluon jet discrimination

We show that in studies of light quark- and gluon-initiated jet discrimination, it is important to include the information on softer reconstructed jets (associated jets) around a primary hard jet. This is particularly relevant while adopting a small radius parameter for reconstructing hadronic jets. The probability of having an associated jet as a function of the primary jet transverse momentum ( p T ) and radius, the minimum associated jet p T and the association radius is computed up to next-to-double logarithmic accuracy (NDLA), and the predictions are compared with results from Herwig++, Pythia6 and Pythia8 Monte Carlos (MC). We demonstrate the improvement in quark-gluon discrimination on using the associated jet rate variable with the help of a multivariate analysis. The associated jet rates are found to be only mildly sensitive to the choice of parton shower and hadronization algorithms, as well as to the effects of initial state radiation and underlying event. In addition, the number of k t subjets of an anti- k t jet is found to be an observable that leads to a rather uniform prediction across different MC’s, broadly being in agreement with predictions in NDLA, as compared to the often used number of charged tracks observable