Constraining the Littlest Higgs

Little Higgs models offer a new way to address the hierarchy problem, and give rise to a weakly-coupled Higgs sector. These theories predict the existence of new states which are necessary to cancel the quadratic divergences of the Standard Model. The simplest version of these models, the Littlest Higgs, is based on an $SU(5)/SO(5)$ non-linear sigma model and predicts that four new gauge bosons, a weak isosinglet quark, $t'$, with $Q=2/3$, as well as an isotriplet scalar field exist at the TeV scale. We consider the contributions of these new states to precision electroweak observables, and examine their production at the Tevatron. We thoroughly explore the parameter space of this model and find that small regions are allowed by the precision data where the model parameters take on their natural values. These regions are, however, excluded by the Tevatron data. Combined, the direct and indirect effects of these new states constrain the `decay constant' f\gsim 3.5 TeV and m_{t'}\gsim 7 TeV. These bounds imply that significant fine-tuning be present in order for this model to resolve the hierarchy problem.Comment: 31 pgs, 26 figures; bound on t' mass fixed to mt'>2f, conclusions unchange

Brane Localized Curvature for Warped Gravitons

We study the effects of including brane localized curvature terms in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model of the hierarchy. This leads to the existence of brane localized kinetic terms for the graviton. Such terms can be induced by brane and bulk quantum effects as well as Higgs-curvature mixing on the brane. We derive the modified spectrum of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons and their couplings to 4-dimensional fields in the presence of these terms. We find that the masses and couplings of the KK gravitons have considerable dependence on the size of the brane localized terms; the weak-scale phenomenology of the model is consequently modified . In particular, the weak-scale spin-2 graviton resonances which generically appear in the RS model may be significantly lighter than previously assumed. However, they may avoid detection as their widths may be too narrow to be observable at colliders. In the contact interaction limit, for a certain range of parameters, the experimental reach for the scale of the theory is independent of the size of the boundary terms.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, LaTex, minor revision

Can b→sγb\to s\gamma Close the Supersymmetric Higgs Production Window?

We show that the present limit from CLEO on the inclusive decay $b\to s\gamma$ provides strong constraints on the parameters of the charged Higgs sector in two-Higgs-Doublet-Models. Only a slight improvement in the experimental bound will exclude the region in the Supersymmetric Higgs parameter space which is inaccessible to collider searches.Comment: 8 pages plus 3 figures (available by request), latex, ANL-HEP-PR-92-110. Substantial revision to text, results unchange

The Diboson Excess: Experimental Situation and Classification of Explanations; A Les Houches Pre-Proceeding

We examine the `diboson' excess at $\sim 2$ TeV seen by the LHC experiments in various channels. We provide a comparison of the excess significances as a function of the mass of the tentative resonance and give the signal cross sections needed to explain the excesses. We also present a survey of available theoretical explanations of the resonance, classified in three main approaches. Beyond that, we discuss methods to verify the anomaly, determining the major properties of the various surpluses and exploring how different models can be discriminated. Finally, we give a tabular summary of the numerous explanations, presenting their main phenomenological features.Comment: 37 pages, 9 Figures, 1 Tabl

Shifts in the Properties of the Higgs Boson from Radion Mixing

We examine how mixing between the Standard Model Higgs boson, $h$, and the radion present in the Randall-Sundrum model of localized gravity modifies the expected properties of the Higgs boson. In particular, we demonstrate that the total and partial decay widths of the Higgs, as well as the $h\to gg$ branching fraction, can be substantially altered from their Standard Model expectations. The remaining branching fractions are modified less than \lsim 5% for most of the parameter space volume.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figs., LaTex; revised versio

Much Ado About Leptoquarks: A Comprehensive Analysis

We examine the phenomenological implications of a 200 GeV leptoquark in light of the recent excess of events at HERA. Given the relative predictions of events rates in e^+p versus e^-p, we demonstrate that classes of leptoquarks may be excluded, including those contained in E_6 GUT models. It is shown that future studies with polarized beams at HERA could reveal the chirality of the leptoquark fermionic coupling and that given sufficient luminosity in each e^\pm_{L,R} channel the leptoquark quantum numbers could be determined. The implications of 200-220 GeV leptoquarks at the Tevatron are examined. While present Tevatron data most likely excludes vector leptoquarks and leptogluons in this mass region, it does allow for scalar leptoquarks. We find that while leptoquarks have little influence on Drell-Yan production, further studies at the Main Injector are possible in the single production channel. We investigate precision electroweak measurements as well as the process e^+e^-\to q\bar q at LEP II and find they provide no further restrictions on these leptoquark models. We then ascertain that cross section and polarization asymmetry measurements at the NLC provide the only direct mechanism to determine the leptoquark's electroweak quantum numbers. The single production of leptoquarks in \gamma e collisions by both the backscattered laser and Weisacker-Williams techniques at the NLC is also discussed. Finally, we demonstrate that we can obtain successful coupling constant unification in models with leptoquarks, both with or without supersymmetry. The supersymmetric case requires the GUT group to be larger than SU(5) such as flipped SU(5)\times U(1)_X.Comment: Corrected single production cross section at Tevatron, updated atomic parity violation constraints, 55 page

Don't Stop Thinking About Leptoquarks: Constructing New Models

We discuss the general framework for the construction of new models containing a single, fermion number zero scalar leptoquark of mass $\simeq 200-220$ GeV which can both satisfy the D0/CDF search constraints as well as low energy data, and can lead to both neutral and charged current-like final states at HERA. The class of models of this kind necessarily contain new vector-like fermions with masses at the TeV scale which mix with those of the Standard Model after symmetry breaking. In this paper we classify all models of this type and examine their phenomenological implications as well as their potential embedding into SUSY and non-SUSY GUT scenarios. The general coupling parameter space allowed by low energy as well as collider data for these models is described and requires no fine-tuning of the parameters.Comment: Modified text, added table, and updated reference

LHC Predictions from a Tevatron Anomaly in the Top Quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry

We examine the implications of the recent CDF measurement of the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry, focusing on a scenario with a new color octet vector boson at 1-3 TeV. We study several models, as well as a general effective field theory, and determine the parameter space which provides the best simultaneous fit to the CDF asymmetry, the Tevatron top pair production cross section, and the exclusion regions from LHC dijet resonance and contact interaction searches. Flavor constraints on these models are more subtle and less severe than the literature indicates. We find a large region of allowed parameter space at high axigluon mass and a smaller region at low mass; we match the latter to an SU(3)xSU(3)/SU(3) coset model with a heavy vector-like fermion. Our scenario produces discoverable effects at the LHC with only 1-2 inverse femtobarns of luminosity at 7-8 TeV. Lastly, we point out that a Tevatron measurement of the b-quark forward-backward asymmetry would be very helpful in characterizing the physics underlying the top-quark asymmetry.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Phenomenology on a Slice of AdS5×MδAdS_5 \times {\cal M}^\delta Spacetime

We study the phenomenology resulting from backgrounds of the form $AdS_5 \times {\cal M}^\delta$, where ${\cal M}^\delta$ denotes a generic manifold of dimension $\delta \geq 1$, and $AdS_5$ is the slice of 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter space which generates the hierarchy in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model. The $\delta$ additional dimensions may be required when the RS model is embedded into a more fundamental theory. We analyze two classes of $\delta-$dimensional manifolds: flat and curved geometries. In the first case, the additional flat dimensions may accommodate localized fermions which in turn could resolve issues, such as proton decay and flavor, that were not addressed in the original RS proposal. In the latter case, the positive curvature of an $S^\delta$ manifold with $\delta> 1$ can geometrically provide the 5-dimensional warping of the RS model. We demonstrate the key features of these two classes of models by presenting the background solutions, the spectra of the Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons, and their 4-dimensional couplings, for the sample manifolds $S^1/Z_2$, $S^1$, and $S^2$. The resulting phenomenology is distinct from that of the original RS scenario due to the appearance of a multitude of new KK graviton states at the weak scale with couplings that are predicted to be measurably non-universal within the KK tower. In addition, in the case of flat compactifications, fermion localization can result in KK graviton and gauge field flavor changing interactions.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. Small corrections included to agree with published versio

Top-Charm Associated Production in High Energy e+e−e^+e^- Collisions

The possibility of exploring the flavor changing neutral current $tcZ/tc\gamma$ couplings in the production vertex for the reaction \epem\to t\bar c + \bar tc is examined. Using a model independent parameterization for the effective Lagrangian to describe the most general three-point interactions, production cross sections are found to be relatively small at LEP II, but potentially sizeable at higher energy \epem colliders. The kinematic characteristics of the signal are studied and a set of cuts are devised for clean separation of the signal from background. The resulting sensitivity to anomalous flavor changing couplings at LEP II with an integrated luminosity of $4\times 500$ pb$^{-1}$ is found to be comparable to their present indirect constraints from loop processes, while at higher energy colliders with $0.5-1$ TeV center-of-mass energy and 50-200 fb$^{-1}$ luminosity, one expects to reach a sensitivity at or below the percentage level.Comment: Latex, 22 page