Probing RS scenarios of flavour at LHC via leptonic channels

We study a purely leptonic signature of the Randall-Sundrum scenario with Standard Model fields in the bulk at LHC: the contribution from the exchange of Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitations of gauge bosons to the clear Drell-Yan reaction. We show that this contribution is detectable (even with the low luminosities of the LHC initial regime) for KK masses around the TeV scale and for sufficiently large lepton couplings to KK gauge bosons. Such large couplings can be compatible with ElectroWeak precision data on the Zff coupling in the framework of the custodial O(3) symmetry recently proposed, for specific configurations of lepton localizations (along the extra dimension). These configurations can simultaneously reproduce the correct lepton masses, while generating acceptably small Flavour Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) effects. This LHC phenomenological analysis is realistic in the sense that it is based on fermion localizations which reproduce all the quark/lepton masses plus mixing angles and respect FCNC constraints in both the hadron and lepton sectors.Comment: 15 pages, 6 Figures, Latex fil

Report of the GDR working group on the R-parity violation

This report summarizes the work of the "R-parity violation group" of the French Research Network (GDR) in Supersymmetry, concerning the physics of supersymmetric models without conservation of R-parity at HERA, LEP, Tevatron and LHC and limits on R-parity violating couplings from various processes. The report includes a discussion of the recent searches at the HERA experiment, prospects for new experiments, a review of the existing limits, and also theoretically motivated alternatives to R-parity and a brief discussion on the implications of R-parity violation on the neutrino masses.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, 2 table

Physics Beyond the Standard Model

I briefly summarize the prospects for extending our understanding of physics beyond the standard model within the next five years.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. Presented at the 1999 UK Phenomenology Workshop, Durham, September 1999. To be published in Journal of Physics

Tevatron-for-LHC Report: Preparations for Discoveries

This is the "TeV4LHC" report of the "Physics Landscapes" Working Group, focused on facilitating the start-up of physics explorations at the LHC by using the experience gained at the Tevatron. We present experimental and theoretical results that can be employed to probe various scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model.Comment: 222 pp., additional contribution added, typos/layout correcte

KK Parity in Warped Extra Dimension

We construct models with a Kaluza-Klein (KK) parity in a five- dimensional warped geometry, in an attempt to address the little hierarchy problem present in setups with bulk Standard Model fields. The lightest KK particle (LKP) is stable and can play the role of dark matter. We consider the possibilities of gluing two identical slices of 5D AdS in either the UV (IR-UV-IR model) or the IR region (UV-IR-UV model) and discuss the model-building issues as well as phenomenological properties in both cases. In particular, we find that the UV-IR-UV model is not gravitationally stable and that additional mechanisms might be required in the IR-UV-IR model in order to address flavor issues. Collider signals of the warped KK parity are different from either the conventional warped extra dimension without KK parity, in which the new particles are not necessarily pair-produced, or the KK parity in flat universal extra dimensions, where each KK level is nearly degenerate in mass. Dark matter and collider properties of a TeV mass KK Z gauge boson as the LKP are discussed.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figure

Lightest-neutralino decays in R_p-violating models with dominant lambda^{prime} and lambda couplings

Decays of the lightest neutralino are studied in R_p-violating models with operators lambda^{prime} L Q D^c and lambda L L E^c involving third-generation matter fields and with dominant lambda^{prime} and lambda couplings. Generalizations to decays of the lightest neutralino induced by subdominant lambda^{prime} and lambda couplings are straightforward. Decays with the top-quark among the particles produced are considered, in addition to those with an almost massless final state. Phenomenological analyses for examples of both classes of decays are presented. No specific assumption on the composition of the lightest neutralino is made, and the formulae listed here can be easily generalized to study decays of heavier neutralinos. It has been recently pointed out that, for a sizable coupling lambda^{prime}_{333}, tau-sleptons may be copiously produced at the LHC as single supersymmetric particles, in association with top- and bottom-quark pairs. This analysis of neutralino decays is, therefore, a first step towards the reconstruction of the complete final state produced in this case.Comment: 40 pages, 11 figures, version to appear in JHE

Measurement and Interpretation of Fermion-Pair Production at LEP energies above the Z Resonance

This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the e+e- -> ffbar process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z resonance, from sqrt(s) ~ 130 - 207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of models including the S-Matrix ansatz for e+e- -> ffbar scattering and several models which include physics beyond the Standard Model: the exchange of Z' bosons, contact interactions between fermions, the exchange of gravitons in large extra dimensions and the exchange of sneutrino in R-parity violating supersymmetry.Comment: 79 pages, 16 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

A Determination of the Centre-of-Mass Energy at LEP2 using Radiative 2-fermion Events

Using e+e- -> mu+mu-(gamma) and e+e- -> qqbar(gamma) events radiative to the Z pole, DELPHI has determined the centre-of-mass energy, sqrt{s}, using energy and momentum constraint methods. The results are expressed as deviations from the nominal LEP centre-of-mass energy, measured using other techniques. The results are found to be compatible with the LEP Energy Working Group estimates for a combination of the 1997 to 2000 data sets.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Study of Leading Hadrons in Gluon and Quark Fragmentation

The study of quark jets in e+e- reactions at LEP has demonstrated that the hadronisation process is reproduced well by the Lund string model. However, our understanding of gluon fragmentation is less complete. In this study enriched quark and gluon jet samples of different purities are selected in three-jet events from hadronic decays of the Z collected by the DELPHI experiment in the LEP runs during 1994 and 1995. The leading systems of the two kinds of jets are defined by requiring a rapidity gap and their sum of charges is studied. An excess of leading systems with total charge zero is found for gluon jets in all cases, when compared to Monte Carlo Simulations with JETSET (with and without Bose-Einstein correlations included) and ARIADNE. The corresponding leading systems of quark jets do not exhibit such an excess. The influence of the gap size and of the gluon purity on the effect is studied and a concentration of the excess of neutral leading systems at low invariant masses (<~ 2 GeV/c^2) is observed, indicating that gluon jets might have an additional hitherto undetected fragmentation mode via a two-gluon system. This could be an indication of a possible production of gluonic states as predicted by QCD.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Phys. Lett.

Determination of the b quark mass at the M_Z scale with the DELPHI detector at LEP

An experimental study of the normalized three-jet rate of b quark events with respect to light quarks events (light= \ell \equiv u,d,s) has been performed using the CAMBRIDGE and DURHAM jet algorithms. The data used were collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP on the Z peak from 1994 to 2000. The results are found to agree with theoretical predictions treating mass corrections at next-to-leading order. Measurements of the b quark mass have also been performed for both the b pole mass: M_b and the b running mass: m_b(M_Z). Data are found to be better described when using the running mass. The measurement yields: m_b(M_Z) = 2.85 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.13 (exp) +/- 0.19 (had) +/- 0.12 (theo) GeV/c^2 for the CAMBRIDGE algorithm. This result is the most precise measurement of the b mass derived from a high energy process. When compared to other b mass determinations by experiments at lower energy scales, this value agrees with the prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics for the energy evolution of the running mass. The mass measurement is equivalent to a test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant with an accuracy of 7 permil.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.