Long-lived bino and wino in supersymmetry with heavy scalars and higgsinos

We point out that there is a parameter region in supersymmetry with heavy scalars and higgsinos, in which the heavier of bino and wino becomes long-lived as a consequence of the heavy higgsinos. In this region these electroweak gaugino sectors are secluded from each other with very small mixings that are inversely proportional to the higgsino mass. We revisit the bino and bino decays and provide simple formulae for the partial decay rates and the lifetimes in the limit of heavy higgsinos. We discuss the collider signatures of the long-lived binos and winos in this scenario.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, text clarified, additional formulas, comparison with SDecay; to appear in JHE

Tau-Sneutrino NLSP and Multilepton Signatures at the LHC

In models with gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle(LSP), the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) can have a long lifetime and appear stable in collider experiments. We study the leptonic signatures of such a scenario with tau-sneutrino as the NLSP, which is realized in the non-universal Higgs masses scenario. We focus on an interesting trilepton signature with two like-sign taus and an electron or a muon of opposite sign. The neutralinos and charginos are quite heavy in the model considered, and the trilepton signal comes mostly from the slepton-sneutrino production. We identify the relevant backgrounds, taking into account tau decays, and devise a set of cuts to optimize this trilepton signal. We simulate signal and backgrounds at the LHC with 14 TeV center-of-mass energy. Although the sleptons in this model are relatively light, O(100 GeV), discovery is more demanding compared to typical neutralino LSP scenarios. The trilepton signal requires large amount of accumulated data, at least ~80 fb^-1, at the CM energy of 14 TeV.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, minor changes to match the version published in Phys.Rev.

Neutralinos betray their singlino nature at the ILC

It is one of the most challenging tasks at the Large Hadron Collider and at a future Linear Collider not only to observe physics beyond the Standard Model, but to clearly identify the underlying new physics model. In this paper we concentrate on the distinction between two different supersymmetric models, the MSSM and the NMSSM, as they can lead to similar low energy spectra. The NMSSM adds a singlet superfield to the MSSM particle spectrum and simplifies embedding a SM-like Higgs candidate with the measured mass of about 125.5 GeV. In parts of the parameter space the Higgs sector itself does not provide sufficient indications for the underlying model. We show that exploring the gaugino/higgsino sectors could provide a meaningful way to distinguish the two models. Assuming that only the lightest chargino and neutralino masses and polarized cross sections $e^+e^-\to \tilde{\chi}^0_i\tilde{\chi}^0_j$, $\tilde{\chi}^+_i\tilde{\chi}^-_j$ are accessible at the linear collider, we reconstruct the fundamental MSSM parameters $M_1$, $M_2$, $\mu$, $\tan\beta$ and study whether a unique model distinction is possible based on this restricted information. Depending on the singlino admixture in the lightest neutralino states, as well as their higgsino or gaugino nature, we define several classes of scenarios and study the prospects of experimental differentiation.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Can R-parity violation hide vanilla supersymmetry at the LHC?

Current experimental constraints on a large parameter space in supersymmetric models rely on the large missing energy signature. This is usually provided by the lightest neutralino which stability is ensured by the R-parity. However, if the R-parity is violated, the lightest neutralino decays into the standard model particles and the missing energy cut is not efficient anymore. In particular, the UDD type R-parity violation induces the neutralino decay to three quarks which potentially leads to the most difficult signal to be searched at hadron colliders. In this paper, we study the constraints on the R-parity violating supersymmetric model using a same-sign dilepton and a multijet signatures. We show that the gluino and squarks lighter than a TeV are already excluded in constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model with R-parity violation if their masses are approximately equal. We also analyze constraints in a simplified model with R-parity violation. We compare how R-parity violation changes some of the observables typically used to distinguish a supersymmetric signal from standard model backgrounds.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

A framework to create customised LHC analyses within CheckMATE

Checkmate is a framework that allows the user to conveniently test simulated BSM physics events against current LHC data in order to derive exclusion limits. For this purpose, the data runs through a detector simulation and is then processed by a user chosen number of experimental analyses. These analyses are all defined by signal regions that can be compared to the experimental data with a multitude of statistical tools. Due to the large and continuously growing number of experimental analyses available, users may quickly find themselves in the situation that the study they are particularly interested in has not (yet) been implemented officially into the Checkmate framework. However, the code includes a rather simple framework to allow users to add new analyses on their own. This document serves as a guide to this. In addition, Checkmate serves as a powerful tool for testing and implementing new search strategies. To aid this process, many tools are included to allow a rapid prototyping of new analyses.Comment: 32 pages; V3: Fixed typos, additional comments, updated references, version submitted to CP

Reducing the fine-tuning of gauge-mediated SUSY breaking

Despite their appealing features, models with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) typically present a high degree of fine-tuning, due to the initial absence of the top trilinear scalar couplings, $A_t=0$. In this paper, we carefully evaluate such a tuning, showing that is worse than per mil in the minimal model. Then, we examine some existing proposals to generate $A_t\neq 0$ term in this context. We find that, although the stops can be made lighter, usually the tuning does not improve (it may be even worse), with some exceptions, which involve the generation of $A_t$ at one loop or tree level. We examine both possibilities and propose a conceptually simplified version of the latter; which is arguably the optimum GMSB setup (with minimal matter content), concerning the fine-tuning issue. The resulting fine-tuning is better than one per mil, still severe but similar to other minimal supersymmetric standard model constructions. We also explore the so-called "little $A_t^2/m^2$ problem", i.e. the fact that a large $A_t$-term is normally accompanied by a similar or larger sfermion mass, which typically implies an increase in the fine-tuning. Finally, we find the version of GMSB for which this ratio is optimized, which, nevertheless, does not minimize the fine-tuning.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 1 appendix. Discussion extended, matches EPJC published versio