Searches for New Physics with leptons in the final state at the LHC

Final states including leptons are most promising to detect early signs of new physics processes when the Large Hadron Collider will start proton-proton collisions at the centre of mass energy of 14\TeV. The reach for Supersymmetry and Extra Dimension models for integrated luminosities ranging from 1 to 10/fb is reported. Preliminary results indicate that already with 1/fb of data new phenomena can be detected.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, to appear in the proceedings of 42nd Rencontres de Moriond - QCD and Hadronic Interactions, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, 17-24 March 200

Discovery Potential for Universal Extra Dimensions Signals with Four Leptons in the Final State

The search for Universal Extra Dimensions for four values of the compactification radius in 4e, 4mu, 2e2mu channels is presented. It is shown that CMS detector is sensitive up to 1R=900GeV/c2 for an integrated luminosity of 30 fb

Heavy Higgs at Tevatron and LHC in Universal Extra Dimension Models

Universal Extra Dimension (UED) models tend to favor a distinctively heavier Higgs mass than in the Standard Model (SM) and its supersymmetric extensions when the Kaluza-Klein (KK) scale is not much higher than the electroweak one, which we call the weak scale UED, in order to cancel the KK top contributions to the T-parameter. Such a heavy Higgs, whose production through the gluon fusion process is enhanced by the KK top loops, is fairly model independent prediction of the weak scale UED models regardless of the brane-localized mass structure at the ultraviolet cutoff scale. We study its cleanest possible signature, the Higgs decay into a Z boson pair and subsequently into four electrons and/or muons, in which all the four-momenta of the final states can be measured and both the Z boson masses can be checked. We show that the weak scale UED model may account for the 2sigma excess of this event at ATLAS at the ZZ pair invariant mass around 250GeV, at which scale SM background is sufficiently small and the SM Higgs predicts too few events. We have also studied the Higgs mass 500GeV (and also 700GeV with \sqrt{s}=14TeV) and have found that we can observe significant resonance with the integrated luminosity 10fb^{-1} for six dimensional UED models.Comment: (v1) 36 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables; (v2) Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, factor 2 error in (93) corrected, comments and references added, figures redrawn; (v3) Minor changes including typo corrections in eq.(15), final version appearing in PR

Constraints on UED from W' searches

We obtain contraints on three Universal Extra Dimensional models utilizing limits from the CMS Collaboration on W' production and decay into a single-top-quark final state. We find a weak constraint on the Minimal Universal Extra Dimensions model due to small Kaluza-Klein number violating terms. In contrast, the W' search puts a strong limit on the size of the Dirac mass term of the quarks in Split Universal Extra Dimension models. In Non-minimal Universal Extra Dimension models the W' search constrains the splitting between the boundary localized kinetic terms of the gauge bosons and the quarks. Each of these bounds can be translated into constraints on the mass splitting between the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the SU(2) charged quarks and the Klauza-Klein excitations of the W boson.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; Updated Draft and Figure

The Gravitino-Stau Scenario after Catalyzed BBN

We consider the impact of Catalyzed Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on theories with a gravitino LSP and a charged slepton NLSP. In models where the gravitino to gaugino mass ratio is bounded from below, such as gaugino-mediated SUSY breaking, we derive a lower bound on the gaugino mass parameter m_1/2. As a concrete example, we determine the parameter space of gaugino mediation that is compatible with all cosmological constraints.Comment: 1+14 pages, 6 figures; v2: minor clarifications, 1 reference added, matches version to appear in JCA

Localization and Functional Characterization of the Alternative Oxidase in Naegleria

The Alternative oxidase (AOX) is a protein involved in maintaining the Krebs cycle in instances where the respiratory chain has been inhibited, while allowing for the maintenance of cell growth and necessary metabolic processes for survival. Among eukaryotes, alternative oxidases have disperse distribution and are found in plants, fungi and a few protists, including Naegleria ssp. Naegleria species are free-living unicellular amoeboflagellates, and include the pathogenic species of N. fowleri, the so-called brain eating amoeba. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we aimed to understand the evolution, localization and function of AOX and the role that plays in Naegleria’s biology. Our analyses suggest that the protein was present in last common ancestor of the genus and structure prediction showed that all functional residues are also present in Naegleria species. Using a combination of cellular and biochemical techniques, we also functionally characterize N. gruberi’s AOX in its mitochondria and we demonstrate that its inactivation affects its proliferation. Consequently, we discuss the benefits of the presence of this protein in Naegleria species, along with its potential pathogenicity role in N. fowleri. We predict that our findings will spearhead new explorations to understand the cell biology, metabolism and evolution of Naegleria and other free-living relatives

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO