709 research outputs found
Testing Yukawa-unified SUSY during year 1 of LHC: the role of multiple b-jets, dileptons and missing E_T
We examine the prospects for testing SO(10) Yukawa-unified supersymmetric
models during the first year of LHC running at \sqrt{s}= 7 TeV, assuming
integrated luminosity values of 0.1 to 1 fb^-1. We consider two cases: the
Higgs splitting (HS) and the D-term splitting (DR3) models. Each generically
predicts light gluinos and heavy squarks, with an inverted scalar mass
hierarchy. We hence expect large rates for gluino pair production followed by
decays to final states with large b-jet multiplicity. For 0.2 fb^-1 of
integrated luminosity, we find a 5 sigma discovery reach of m(gluino) ~ 400 GeV
even if missing transverse energy, E_T^miss, is not a viable cut variable, by
examining the multi-b-jet final state. A corroborating signal should stand out
in the opposite-sign (OS) dimuon channel in the case of the HS model; the DR3
model will require higher integrated luminosity to yield a signal in the OS
dimuon channel. This region may also be probed by the Tevatron with 5-10 fb^-1
of data, if a corresponding search in the multi-b+ E_T^miss channel is
performed. With higher integrated luminosities of ~1 fb^-1, using E_T^miss plus
a large multiplicity of b-jets, LHC should be able to discover Yukawa-unified
SUSY with m(gluino) up to about 630 GeV. Thus, the year 1 LHC reach for
Yukawa-unified SUSY should be enough to either claim a discovery of the gluino,
or to very nearly rule out this class of models, since higher values of
m(gluino) lead to rather poor Yukawa unification.Comment: 32 pages including 31 EPS figure
WZ plus missing-E_T signal from gaugino pair production at LHC7
LHC searches for supersymmetry currently focus on strongly produced
sparticles, which are copiously produced if gluinos and squarks have masses of
a few hundred GeV. However, in supersymmetric models with heavy scalars, as
favored by the decoupling solution to the SUSY flavor and CP problems, and
m_{\tg}> 500 GeV as indicated by recent LHC results, chargino--neutralino
(\tw_1^\pm\tz_2) production is the dominant cross section for m_{\tw_1} \sim
m_{\tz_2} < m_{\tg}/3 at LHC with \sqrt{s}=7 TeV (LHC7). Furthermore, if
m_{\tz_1}+m_Z \lesssim m_{\tz_2}\lesssim m_{\tz_1}+m_h, then \tz_2 dominantly
decays via \tz_2\to\tz_1 Z, while \tw_1 decays via \tw_1\to \tz_1 W. We
investigate the LHC7 reach in the WZ + MET channel (for both leptonic and
hadronic decays of the W boson) in models with and without the assumption of
gaugino mass universality. In the case of the mSUGRA/CMSSM model with heavy
squark masses, the LHC7 discovery reach in the WZ+MET channel becomes
competetive with the reach in the canonical MET + jets channel for integrated
luminosities \sim 30 fb^-1. We also present the LHC7 reach for a simplified
model with arbitrary m_{\tz_1} and m_{\tw_1} \sim m_{\tz_2}. Here, we find a
reach of up to m_{\tw_1}\sim 200 (250) GeV for 10 (30) fb^-1.Comment: 15 pages including 9 .eps figure
Fine-tuning implications for complementary dark matter and LHC SUSY searches
The requirement that SUSY should solve the hierarchy problem without undue
fine-tuning imposes severe constraints on the new supersymmetric states. With
the MSSM spectrum and soft SUSY breaking originating from universal scalar and
gaugino masses at the Grand Unification scale, we show that the low-fine-tuned
regions fall into two classes that will require complementary collider and dark
matter searches to explore in the near future. The first class has relatively
light gluinos or squarks which should be found by the LHC in its first run. We
identify the multijet plus E_T^miss signal as the optimal channel and determine
the discovery potential in the first run. The second class has heavier gluinos
and squarks but the LSP has a significant Higgsino component and should be seen
by the next generation of direct dark matter detection experiments. The
combined information from the 7 TeV LHC run and the next generation of direct
detection experiments can test almost all of the CMSSM parameter space
consistent with dark matter and EW constraints, corresponding to a fine-tuning
not worse than 1:100. To cover the complete low-fine-tuned region by SUSY
searches at the LHC will require running at the full 14 TeV CM energy; in
addition it may be tested indirectly by Higgs searches covering the mass range
below 120 GeV.Comment: References added. Version accepted for publication in JHE
Discovery Potential for Low-Scale Gauge Mediation at Early LHC
Low-scale gauge-mediated supersymmetry(SUSY)-breaking (GMSB) models with
gravitino mass m_{3/2}<16 eV are attractive, since there are no flavor and
cosmological problems. In this paper, we thoroughly study the collider signal
in the case that the next-to-lightest SUSY particle is the bino or slepton and
investigate the discovery potential of the LHC. Our result is applicable to a
wider class of GMSB models other than the minimal GMSB models and we pay
particular attention to realistic experimental setups. We also apply our
analysis to the minimal GMSB models with a metastable SUSY-breaking vacuum and
we show, by requiring sufficient stability of the SUSY-breaking vacuum, these
models can be tested at an early stage of the LHC.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures.Texts in section 3.2.2 and 3.2.4 are revised.
Captions change
Where the Sidewalk Ends: Jets and Missing Energy Search Strategies for the 7 TeV LHC
This work explores the potential reach of the 7 TeV LHC to new colored states
in the context of simplified models and addresses the issue of which search
regions are necessary to cover an extensive set of event topologies and
kinematic regimes. This article demonstrates that if searches are designed to
focus on specific regions of phase space, then new physics may be missed if it
lies in unexpected corners. Simple multiregion search strategies can be
designed to cover all of kinematic possibilities. A set of benchmark models are
created that cover the qualitatively different signatures and a benchmark
multiregion search strategy is presented that covers these models.Comment: 30 pages, 8 Figures, 3 Tables. Version accepted at JHEP. Minor
changes. Added figur
Natural Supersymmetry at the LHC
If the minimal supersymmetric standard model is the solution to the hierarchy
problem, the scalar top quark (stop) and the Higgsino should weigh around the
electroweak scale such as 200 GeV. A low messenger scale, which results in a
light gravitino, is also suggested to suppress the quantum corrections to the
Higgs mass parameters. Therefore the minimal model for natural supersymmetry is
a system with stop/Higgsino/gravitino whereas other superparticles are heavy.
We study the LHC signatures of the minimal system and discuss the discovery
potential and methods for the mass measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
The cost of promiscuity: sexual transmission of Nosema microsporidian parasites in polyandrous honey bees
Multiple mating (and insemination) by females with different males, polyandry, is widespread across animals, due to material and/or genetic benefits for females. It reaches particularly high levels in some social insects, in which queens can produce significantly fitter colonies by being polyandrous. It is therefore a paradox that two thirds of eusocial hymenopteran insects appear to be exclusively monandrous, in spite of the fitness benefits that polyandry could provide. One possible cost of polyandry could be sexually transmitted parasites, but evidence for these in social insects is extremely limited. Here we show that two different species of Nosema microsporidian parasites can transmit sexually in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bee males that are infected by the parasite have Nosema spores in their semen, and queens artificially inseminated with either Nosema spores or the semen of Nosema-infected males became infected by the parasite. The emergent and more virulent N. ceranae achieved much higher rates of infection following insemination than did N. apis. The results provide the first quantitative evidence of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in social insects, indicating that STDs may represent a potential cost of polyandry in social insects
Bigger, Better, Faster, More at the LHC
Multijet plus missing energy searches provide universal coverage for theories
that have new colored particles that decay into a dark matter candidate and
jets. These signals appear at the LHC further out on the missing energy tail
than two-to-two scattering indicates. The simplicity of the searches at the LHC
contrasts sharply with the Tevatron where more elaborate searches are necessary
to separate signal from background. The searches presented in this article
effectively distinguish signal from background for any theory where the LSP is
a daughter or granddaughter of the pair-produced colored parent particle
without ever having to consider missing energies less than 400 GeV.Comment: 26 pages, 8 Figures. Minor textual changes, typos fixed and
references adde
Light Sneutrino Dark Matter at the LHC
In supersymmetric (SUSY) models with Dirac neutrino masses, a weak-scale
trilinear A-term that is not proportional to the small neutrino Yukawa
couplings can induce a sizable mixing between left and right-handed sneutrinos.
The lighter sneutrino mass eigenstate can hence become the lightest SUSY
particle (LSP) and a viable dark matter candidate. In particular, it can be an
excellent candidate for light dark matter with mass below ~10 GeV. Such a light
mixed sneutrino LSP has a dramatic effect on SUSY signatures at the LHC, as
charginos decay dominantly into the light sneutrino plus a charged lepton, and
neutralinos decay invisibly to a neutrino plus a sneutrino. We perform a
detailed study of the LHC potential to resolve the light sneutrino dark matter
scenario by means of three representative benchmark points with different
gluino and squark mass hierarchies. We study in particular the determination of
the LSP (sneutrino) mass from cascade decays involving charginos, using the mT2
variable. Moreover, we address measurements of additional invisible sparticles,
in our case the lightest neutralino, and the question of discrimination against
the MSSM.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figure
Many faces of low mass neutralino dark matter in the unconstrained MSSM, LHC data and new signals
If all strongly interacting sparticles (the squarks and the gluinos) in an
unconstrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) are heavier than the
corresponding mass lower limits in the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model,
obtained by the current LHC experiments, then the existing data allow a variety
of electroweak (EW) sectors with light sparticles yielding dark matter (DM)
relic density allowed by the WMAP data. Some of the sparticles may lie just
above the existing lower bounds from LEP and lead to many novel DM producing
mechanisms not common in mSUGRA. This is illustrated by revisiting the above
squark-gluino mass limits obtained by the ATLAS Collaboration, with an
unconstrained EW sector with masses not correlated with the strong sector.
Using their selection criteria and the corresponding cross section limits, we
find at the generator level using Pythia, that the changes in the mass limits,
if any, are by at most 10-12% in most scenarios. In some cases, however, the
relaxation of the gluino mass limits are larger (). If a subset of
the strongly interacting sparticles in an unconstrained MSSM are within the
reach of the LHC, then signals sensitive to the EW sector may be obtained. This
is illustrated by simulating the \etslash, , and \etslash signals in i) the light stop scenario and ii) the light
stop-gluino scenario with various light EW sectors allowed by the WMAP data.
Some of the more general models may be realized with non-universal scalar and
gaugino masses.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure, references added, minor changes in text, to
appear in JHE
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