SUSY darkmatter at the LHC - 7 TeV

We have analysed the early LHC signatures of the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model. Our emphasis is on the 7 - $TeV$ run corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $\sim 1.0 ~fb^{-1}$ although we have also discussed briefly the prospects at LHC-10 $TeV$. We focus on the parameter space yielding relatively light squark and gluinos consistent with the darkmatter relic density data and the LEP bounds on the lightest Higgs scalar mass. This parameter space is only allowed for non-vanishing trilinear soft breaking term $A_0$. A significant region of the parameter space with large to moderate negative values of $A_0$ consistent with the stability of the scalar potential and relic density production via neutralino annihilation and/or neutralino - stau coannihilation yields observable signal via the jets + missing transverse energy channel. The one lepton + jets + missing energy signal is also viable over a smaller but non-trivial parameter space. The ratio of the size of the two signals - free from theoretical uncertainties - may distinguish between different relic density generating mechanisms. With efficient $\tau$-tagging facilities at 7 $TeV$ the discriminating power may increase significantly. We also comment on other dark matter relic density allowed mSUGRA scenarios and variants there of in the context of LHC-7 $TeV$.Comment: Brief comments on signals at 7 TeV in the Higgs funnel region of mSUGRA, models with non universal scalar and gaugino masses have been added. Accepted for publication in PR

Electroweak Contributions to Squark Pair Production at the LHC

In this paper we compute electroweak contributions to the production of squark pairs at hadron colliders. These include the exchange of electroweak gauge bosons in the s-channel as well as electroweak gaugino exchange in the t- and/or u-channel. In many cases these can interfere with the dominant QCD contributions. As a result, we find sizable contributions to the production of two SU(2) doublet squarks. At the LHC, they amount to 10 to 20% for typical mSUGRA (or CMSSM) scenarios, but in more general scenarios they can vary between -40 and +55%, depending on size and sign of the SU(2) gaugino mass. The electroweak contribution to the total squark pair production rate at the LHC is about 3.5 times smaller.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

Supersymmetric Higgs Boson Decays in the MSSM with Explicit CP Violation

Decays into neutralinos and charginos are among the most accessible supersymmetric decay modes of Higgs particles in most supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. In the presence of explicitly CP--violating phases in the soft breaking sector of the theory, the couplings of Higgs bosons to charginos and neutralinos are in general complex. Based on a specific benchmark scenario of CP violation, we analyze the phenomenological impact of explicit CP violation in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model on these Higgs boson decays. The presence of CP--violating phases could be confirmed either directly through the measurement of a CP--odd polarization asymmetry of the produced charginos and neutralinos, or through the dependence of CP--even quantities (branching ratios and masses) on these phases.Comment: 14 pages, latex, 4 eps figure

Non-zero trilinear parameter in the mSUGRA model - dark matter and collider signals at Tevatron and LHC

Phenomenologically viable and interesting regions of parameter space in the minimal super-gravity (mSUGRA) model with small $m_0$ and small $m_{1/2}$ consistent with the WMAP data on dark matter relic density and the bound on the mass of the lightest Higgs scalar $m_h>$ 114 GeV from LEP2 open up if the rather adhoc assumption $A_0$=0, where $A_0$ is the common trilinear soft breaking parameter, employed in most of the existing analyses is relaxed. Since this region corresponds to relatively light squarks and gluinos which are likely to be probed extensively in the very early stages of the LHC experiments, the consequences of moderate or large negative values of $A_0$ are examined in detail. We find that in this region several processes including lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) pair annihilation, LSP - lighter tau slepton (${\tilde \tau}_1$) coannihilation and LSP - lighter top squark (${\tilde t}_1$) coannihilation contribute to the observed dark matter relic density. %\sout{The possibility that a relic density producing ${\tilde t}_1$ can be %observed at the current experiments at the Tevatron is wide open.} The possibility that a ${\tilde t}_1$ that can participate in coannihilation with the lightest neutralino to satisfy the WMAP bound on relic density and at the same time be observed at the current experiments at the Tevatron is wide open. At the LHC a large number of squark - gluino events lead to a very distinctive semi-inclusive signature $\tau^\pm$+X$_\tau$ (anything without a tau lepton) with a characteristic size much larger than $e^\pm$+X$_e$ or $\mu^\pm$+X$_\mu$ events.Comment: Some minor changes made in the text. To appear in Phys Rev

Strong Interaction Effects in Stop Pair Production at e+e−e^+ e^- Colliders

We discuss perturbative and non-perturbative strong interaction effects in the pair production of stop squarks ($\tilde{t}_1$) at $e^+ e^-$ colliders. Events with an additional hard gluon allow to detect or exclude stop pair production even in scenarios with very small mass splitting between $\tilde{t}_1$ and an invisible lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). Such events can also help to establish that $\tilde{t}_1$ transforms as a triplet under $SU(3)_C$. We also carefully study non-perturbative $\tilde{t}_1$ fragmentation, which is currently not well understood: not only is the $\tilde{t}_1$ fragmentation function not known very well, but also there are ambiguities in the algorithm employed to model fragmentation. We present numerical results both for CERN LEP-183 and for a proposed future $e^+ e^-$ collider operating at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV.Comment: 16 pages and 4 figure

Higgs funnel region of SUSY dark matter for small tan⁡β\tan\beta and renormalization group effects on pseudoscalar Higgs boson with scalar mass non-universality

A non-universal scalar mass supergravity type of model is explored where the first two generation of scalars and the third generation of sleptons may be very massive. Lighter or vanishing third generation of squarks as well as Higgs scalars at the unification scale cause the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking constraint to be less prohibitive. Thus, both FCNC/CP-violation problems as well as the naturalness problem are within control. We identify a large slepton mass effect in the RGE of $m_{H_D}^2$ (for the down type of Higgs) that may turn the later negative at the electroweak scale even for a small $\tan\beta$. A hyperbolic branch/focus point like effect is found for $m_A^2$ that may result in very light Higgs spectra. The lightest stable particle is dominantly a bino that pair annihilates via Higgs exchange, giving rise to a WMAP satisfied relic density region for all $\tan\beta$. Detection prospects of such LSPs in the upcoming dark matter experiments both of direct and indirect types (photon flux) are interesting. The Higgs bosons and the third generation of squarks are light in this scenario and these may be easily probed besides charginos and neutralinos in the early runs of LHC.Comment: 36 pages and 7 Postscript files. Minor changes in the text. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Lepton Flavours at the Early LHC Experiments as the Footprints of the Dark Matter Producing Mechanisms

The mSUGRA parameter space corresponding to light sleptons well within the reach of LHC and relatively light squarks and gluinos (mass $\le$ 1 TeV) has three regions consistent with the WMAP data on dark matter relic density and direct mass bounds from LEP 2. Each region can lead to distinct leptonic signatures from squark-gluino events during the early LHC experiments (integrated luminosity $\sim 10 ~fb^{-1}$ or even smaller). In the much studied stau-LSP coannihilation region with a vanishing common trilinear coupling ($A_0$) at the GUT scale a large fraction of the final states contain electrons and / or muons and $e$ - $\mu$ - $\tau$ universality holds to a good approximation. In the not so well studied scenarios with non-vanishing $A_0$ both LSP pair annihilation and stau-LSP coannihilation could contribute significantly to the dark matter relic density for even smaller squark-gluino masses. Our simulations indicate that the corresponding signatures are final states rich in $\tau$-leptons while final states with electrons and muons are suppressed leading to a violation of lepton universality. These features may be observed to a lesser extent even in the modified parameter space (with non-zero $A_0$) where the coannihilation process dominates. We also show that the generic $m$-leptons + $n$-jets+ $\not! E_T$ signatures without flavour tagging can also discriminate among the three scenarios. However, the signals become more informative if the $\tau$ and $b$-jet tagging facilities at the LHC experiments are utilized.Comment: 28 page

Comparison of clinical signs and outcomes between dogs with presumptive ischemic myelopathy and dogs with acute non compressive nucleus pulposus extrusion

Abstract OBJECTIVE To compare clinical signs and outcomes between dogs with presumptive ischemic myelopathy and dogs with presumptive acute noncompressive nucleus pulposus extrusion (ANNPE). DESIGN Retrospective study. ANIMALS 51 dogs with ischemic myelopathy and 42 dogs with ANNPE examined at 1 referral hospital. PROCEDURES Medical records and MRI sequences were reviewed for dogs with a presumptive antemortem diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy or ANNPE. Information regarding signalment, clinical signs at initial examination, and short-term outcome was retrospectively retrieved from patient records. Long-term outcome information was obtained by telephone communication with referring or primary-care veterinarians and owners. RESULTS Compared with the hospital population, English Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Border Collies were overrepresented in the ischemic myelopathy and ANNPE groups, respectively. Dogs with ANNPE were significantly older at disease onset and were more likely to have a history of vocalization at onset of clinical signs, have spinal hyperesthesia during initial examination, have a lesion at C1-C5 spinal cord segments, and be ambulatory at hospital discharge, compared with dogs with ischemic myelopathy. Dogs with ischemic myelopathy were more likely to have a lesion at L4-S3 spinal cord segments and have long-term fecal incontinence, compared with dogs with ANNPE. However, long-term quality of life and outcome did not differ between dogs with ischemic myelopathy and dogs with ANNPE. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results revealed differences in clinical signs at initial examination between dogs with ischemic myelopathy and dogs with ANNPE that may aid clinicians in differentiating the 2 conditions.</jats:p

First observations of beam losses due to bound-free pair production in a heavy-ion collider

We report the first observations of beam losses due to bound-free pair production at the interaction point of a heavy-ion collider. This process is expected to be a major luminosity limit for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when it operates with 208Pb82+ ions because the localized energy deposition by the lost ions may quench superconducting magnet coils. Measurements were performed at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) during operation with 100 GeV/nucleon 63Cu29+ ions. At RHIC, the rate, energy and magnetic field are low enough so that magnet quenching is not an issue. The hadronic showers produced when the single-electron ions struck the RHIC beampipe were observed using an array of photodiodes. The measurement confirms the order of magnitude of the theoretical cross section previously calculated by others.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Added journal ref. Corrected typos. Fixed fig 1. Minor improvements to fig. 1,3,4. Rephrased a small number of sentences (p1,3,4). Added numerical values of the aperture and the displacement for Au (p 2). Changed reference 5, added name in acknowledgments (p 4