121 research outputs found
Model-Independent Searches for New Quarks at the LHC
New vector-like quarks can have sizable couplings to first generation quarks
without conflicting with current experimental constraints. The coupling with
valence quarks and unique kinematics make single production the optimal
discovery process. We perform a model-independent analysis of the discovery
reach at the Large Hadron Collider for new vector-like quarks considering
single production and subsequent decays via electroweak interactions. An early
LHC run with 7 TeV center of mass energy and 1 fb-1 of integrated luminosity
can probe heavy quark masses up to 1 TeV and can be competitive with the
Tevatron reach of 10 fb-1. The LHC with 14 TeV center of mass energy and 100
fb-1 of integrated luminosity can probe heavy quark masses up to 3.7 TeV for
order one couplings.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 7 table
Bounds and Decays of New Heavy Vector-like Top Partners
We study the phenomenology of new heavy vector-like fermions that couple to
the third generation quarks via Yukawa interactions, covering all the allowed
representations under the standard model gauge groups. We first review tree and
loop level bounds on these states. We then discuss tree level decays and
loop-induced decays to photon or gluon plus top. The main decays at tree level
are to W b and/or Z and Higgs plus top via the new Yukawa couplings. The
radiative loop decays turn out to be quite close to the naive estimate: in all
cases, in the allowed perturbative parameter space, the branching ratios are
mildly sensitive on the new Yukawa couplings and small. We therefore conclude
that the new states can be observed at the LHC and that the tree level decays
can allow to distinguish the different representations. Moreover, the
observation of the radiative decays at the LHC would suggest a large Yukawa
coupling in the non-perturbative regime.Comment: 32 pages, 2 tables, 10 figure
Impact of massive neutrinos on the Higgs self-coupling and electroweak vacuum stability
The presence of right-handed neutrinos in the type I seesaw mechanism may
lead to significant corrections to the RG evolution of the Higgs self-coupling.
Compared to the Standard Model case, the Higgs mass window can become narrower,
and the cutoff scale become lower. Naively, these effects decrease with
decreasing right-handed neutrino mass. However, we point out that the unknown
Dirac Yukawa matrix may impact the vacuum stability constraints even in the low
scale seesaw case not far away from the electroweak scale, hence much below the
canonical seesaw scale of 10^15 GeV. This includes situations in which
production of right-handed neutrinos at colliders is possible. We illustrate
this within a particular parametrization of the Dirac Yukawas and with explicit
low scale seesaw models. We also note the effect of massive neutrinos on the
top quark Yukawa coupling, whose high energy value can be increased with
respect to the Standard Model case.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, minor revisions, version to appear in JHE
Flavor Violating Higgs Decays
We study a class of nonstandard interactions of the newly discovered 125 GeV
Higgs-like resonance that are especially interesting probes of new physics:
flavor violating Higgs couplings to leptons and quarks. These interaction can
arise in many frameworks of new physics at the electroweak scale such as two
Higgs doublet models, extra dimensions, or models of compositeness. We rederive
constraints on flavor violating Higgs couplings using data on rare decays,
electric and magnetic dipole moments, and meson oscillations. We confirm that
flavor violating Higgs boson decays to leptons can be sizeable with, e.g., h ->
tau mu and h -> tau e branching ratios of order 10% perfectly allowed by low
energy constraints. We estimate the current LHC limits on h -> tau mu and h ->
tau e decays by recasting existing searches for the SM Higgs in the tau-tau
channel and find that these bounds are already stronger than those from rare
tau decays. We also show that these limits can be improved significantly with
dedicated searches and we outline a possible search strategy. Flavor violating
Higgs decays therefore present an opportunity for discovery of new physics
which in some cases may be easier to access experimentally than flavor
conserving deviations from the Standard Model Higgs framework.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables; v2: Improved referencing, updated mu
-> 3e bounds to include large loop contributions, corrected single top
constraints; conclusions unchanged; matches version to be published in JHEP;
v3: included 2-loop contributions in mu -> e conversion, improved discussion
of tau -> 3 mu and of EDM constraints on FV top-Higgs couplings; conclusions
unchange
The Custodial Randall-Sundrum Model: From Precision Tests to Higgs Physics
We reexamine the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with enlarged gauge symmetry
SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_X x P_LR in the presence of a brane-localized Higgs
sector. In contrast to the existing literature, we perform the Kaluza-Klein
(KK) decomposition within the mass basis, which avoids the truncation of the KK
towers. Expanding the low-energy spectrum as well as the gauge couplings in
powers of the Higgs vacuum expectation value, we obtain analytic formulas which
allow for a deep understanding of the model-specific protection mechanisms of
the T parameter and the left-handed Z-boson couplings. In particular, in the
latter case we explain which contributions escape protection and identify them
with the irreducible sources of P_LR symmetry breaking. We furthermore show
explicitly that no protection mechanism is present in the charged-current
sector confirming existing model-independent findings. The main focus of the
phenomenological part of our work is a detailed discussion of Higgs-boson
couplings and their impact on physics at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. For
the first time, a complete one-loop calculation of all relevant Higgs-boson
production and decay channels is presented, incorporating the effects stemming
from the extended electroweak gauge-boson and fermion sectors.Comment: 74 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. v2: Matches version published in JHE
The Minimal Scale Invariant Extension of the Standard Model
We perform a systematic analysis of an extension of the Standard Model that
includes a complex singlet scalar field and is scale invariant at the tree
level. We call such a model the Minimal Scale Invariant extension of the
Standard Model (MSISM). The tree-level scale invariance of the model is
explicitly broken by quantum corrections, which can trigger electroweak
symmetry breaking and potentially provide a mechanism for solving the gauge
hierarchy problem. Even though the scale invariant Standard Model is not a
realistic scenario, the addition of a complex singlet scalar field may result
in a perturbative and phenomenologically viable theory. We present a complete
classification of the flat directions which may occur in the classical scalar
potential of the MSISM. After calculating the one-loop effective potential of
the MSISM, we investigate a number of representative scenarios and determine
their scalar boson mass spectra, as well as their perturbatively allowed
parameter space compatible with electroweak precision data. We discuss the
phenomenological implications of these scenarios, in particular, whether they
realize explicit or spontaneous CP violation, neutrino masses or provide dark
matter candidates. In particular, we find a new minimal scale-invariant model
of maximal spontaneous CP violation which can stay perturbative up to
Planck-mass energy scales, without introducing an unnaturally large hierarchy
in the scalar-potential couplings.Comment: 71 pages, 34 eps figures, numerical error corrected, clarifying
comments adde
Composite GUTs: models and expectations at the LHC
We investigate grand unified theories (GUTs) in scenarios where electroweak
(EW) symmetry breaking is triggered by a light composite Higgs, arising as a
Nambu-Goldstone boson from a strongly interacting sector. The evolution of the
standard model (SM) gauge couplings can be predicted at leading order, if the
global symmetry of the composite sector is a simple group G that contains the
SM gauge group. It was noticed that, if the right-handed top quark is also
composite, precision gauge unification can be achieved. We build minimal
consistent models for a composite sector with these properties, thus
demonstrating how composite GUTs may represent an alternative to supersymmetric
GUTs. Taking into account the new contributions to the EW precision parameters,
we compute the Higgs effective potential and prove that it realizes
consistently EW symmetry breaking with little fine-tuning. The G group
structure and the requirement of proton stability determine the nature of the
light composite states accompanying the Higgs and the top quark: a coloured
triplet scalar and several vector-like fermions with exotic quantum numbers. We
analyse the signatures of these composite partners at hadron colliders:
distinctive final states contain multiple top and bottom quarks, either alone
or accompanied by a heavy stable charged particle, or by missing transverse
energy.Comment: 55 pages, 13 figures, final version to be published in JHE
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