Toward Full LHC Coverage of Natural Supersymmetry

We argue that combining just a handful of searches for new physics at Run I of the LHC is sufficient to exclude most supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model in which the gluino is kinematically accessible and the spectrum is natural. Such models typically give rise to significant MET, top quarks and/or high object multiplicity, and we show that having even one of these signatures generally results in stringent limits. We also identify, among models that lack these signatures, the few gaps in coverage remaining, and propose search strategies to close these gaps. Our results are general and independent of the details of the spectrum, assumptions about minimality, R-parity, etc. Our analysis strategy should remain applicable when the LHC moves to higher energy. Central to our argument are ATLAS and CMS searches for many jets and low MET, a proposed lepton + many jets search, an ATLAS search for 6-7 high-pT jets, and a reexamination of the control and signal regions of the CMS black hole search.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figures, journal versio

Long-lived staus and displaced leptons at the LHC

As the majority of LHC searches are focused on prompt signatures, specific long-lived particles have the potential to be overlooked by the otherwise systematic new physics programs at ATLAS and CMS. While in many cases long-lived superparticles are now stringently constrained by existing exotic searches, we point out that the highly motivated model of gauge mediation with staus as the next-to-lightest superparticle (NLSP) has received less attention. We recast LHC searches for heavy stable charged particles, disappearing tracks, and opposite-flavor leptons with large impact parameters to assess current constraints on a variety of spectra that contain an NLSP stau, and find that portions of the parameter space motivated by naturalness are still experimentally unexplored. We additionally note a gap in the current experimental search program: same-flavor leptons with large impact parameters evade the suite of existing searches for long-lived objects. This gap is especially noteworthy as vetoes on displaced leptons in prompt new physics searches could be systematically discarding such events. We discuss several motivated models that can exhibit same-flavor displaced leptons: gauge mediation with co-NLSP sleptons, extended gauge mediation, R-parity violation, and lepton-flavored dark matter that freezes in during a matter-dominated era of the early universe. To address this gap, we propose a straightforward extension of the CMS search for leptons with large impact parameters, and project sensitivity to these scenarios at 13 TeV. Throughout this analysis, we highlight several methods whereby LHC searches for exotic long-lived objects could potentially improve their sensitivity to the displaced leptons originating from gauge mediation and beyond.Comment: 48 pages, 6 figures, journal versio