Gaugino Anomaly Mediated SUSY Breaking: phenomenology and prospects for the LHC

We examine the supersymmetry phenomenology of a novel scenario of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking which we call Gaugino Anomaly Mediation, or inoAMSB. This is suggested by recent work on the phenomenology of flux compactified type IIB string theory. The essential features of this scenario are that the gaugino masses are of the anomaly-mediated SUSY breaking (AMSB) form, while scalar and trilinear soft SUSY breaking terms are highly suppressed. Renormalization group effects yield an allowable sparticle mass spectrum, while at the same time avoiding charged LSPs; the latter are common in models with negligible soft scalar masses, such as no-scale or gaugino mediation models. Since scalar and trilinear soft terms are highly suppressed, the SUSY induced flavor and CP-violating processes are also suppressed. The lightest SUSY particle is the neutral wino, while the heaviest is the gluino. In this model, there should be a strong multi-jet +etmiss signal from squark pair production at the LHC. We find a 100 fb^{-1} reach of LHC out to m_{3/2}\sim 118 TeV, corresponding to a gluino mass of \sim 2.6 TeV. A double mass edge from the opposite-sign/same flavor dilepton invariant mass distribution should be visible at LHC; this, along with the presence of short-- but visible-- highly ionizing tracks from quasi-stable charginos, should provide a smoking gun signature for inoAMSB.Comment: 30 pages including 14 .eps figure

Search for dark matter in association with a Higgs boson decaying to b-quarks in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for dark matter pair production in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is presented, using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The decay of the Higgs boson is reconstructed as a high-momentum bb¯ system with either a pair of small-radius jets, or a single large-radius jet with substructure. The observed data are found to be consistent with the expected backgrounds. Results are interpreted using a simplified model with a Z′ gauge boson mediating the interaction between dark matter and the Standard Model as well as a two-Higgs-doublet model containing an additional Z′ boson which decays to a Standard Model Higgs boson and a new pseudoscalar Higgs boson, the latter decaying into a pair of dark matter particles

General Analysis of Antideuteron Searches for Dark Matter

Low energy cosmic ray antideuterons provide a unique low background channel for indirect detection of dark matter. We compute the cosmic ray flux of antideuterons from hadronic annihilations of dark matter for various Standard Model final states and determine the mass reach of two future experiments (AMS-02 and GAPS) designed to greatly increase the sensitivity of antideuteron detection over current bounds. We consider generic models of scalar, fermion, and massive vector bosons as thermal dark matter, describe their basic features relevant to direct and indirect detection, and discuss the implications of direct detection bounds on models of dark matter as a thermal relic. We also consider specific dark matter candidates and assess their potential for detection via antideuterons from their hadronic annihilation channels. Since the dark matter mass reach of the GAPS experiment can be well above 100 GeV, we find that antideuterons can be a good indirect detection channel for a variety of thermal relic electroweak scale dark matter candidates, even when the rate for direct detection is highly suppressed.Comment: 44 pages, 15 Figure

Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or two jets identified as b-jets in proton–proton collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

© 2016 The AuthorSearches for high-mass resonances in the dijet invariant mass spectrum with one or two jets identified as b-jets are performed using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No evidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95% credibility level, excited b⁎ quarks with masses from 1.1 TeV to 2.1 TeV and leptophobic Z′ bosons with masses from 1.1 TeV to 1.5 TeV. Contributions of a Gaussian signal shape with effective cross sections ranging from approximately 0.4 to 0.001 pb are also excluded in the mass range 1.5–5.0 TeV

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for direct top squark pair production in events with a Higgs or Z boson, and missing transverse momentum in s√=13s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for direct top squark pair production resulting in events with either a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair with invariant mass compatible with a Z boson or a pair of jets compatible with a Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (h) is presented. Requirements on the missing transverse momentum, together with additional selections on leptons, jets, jets identified as originating from b-quarks are imposed to target the other decay products of the top squark pair. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at s=13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015–2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 . No excess is observed in the data with respect to the SM predictions. The results are interpreted in two sets of models. In the first set, direct production of pairs of lighter top squarks (t˜ 1 ) with long decay chains involving Z or Higgs bosons is considered. The second set includes direct pair production of the heavier top squark pairs (t˜ 2 ) decaying via t˜ 2 → Zt˜ 1 or t˜ 2 → ht˜ 1 . The results exclude at 95% confidence level t˜ 2 and t˜ 1 masses up to about 800 GeV, extending the exclusion region of supersymmetric parameter space covered by previous LHC searches.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Measurement of the kt splitting scales in Z → `` events in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the splitting scales occuring in the k t jet-clustering algorithm is presented for final states containing a Z boson. The measurement is done using 20.2 fb −1 of proton-proton collision data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of s=8 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012. The measurement is based on chargedparticle track information, which is measured with excellent precision in the p T region relevant for the transition between the perturbative and the non-perturbative regimes. The data distributions are corrected for detector effects, and are found to deviate from state-of-the-art predictions in various regions of the observables.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]

A new method to distinguish hadronically decaying boosted Z bosons from W bosons using the ATLAS detector

The distribution of particles inside hadronic jets produced in the decay of boosted W and Z bosons can be used to discriminate such jets from the continuum background. Given that a jet has been identified as likely resulting from the hadronic decay of a boosted W or Z boson, this paper presents a technique for further differentiating Z bosons from W bosons. The variables used are jet mass, jet charge, and a b-tagging discriminant. A likelihood tagger is constructed from these variables and tested in the simulation of W′→ WZ for bosons in the transverse momentum range 200 GeV < pT< 400 GeV in s= 8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. For Z-boson tagging efficiencies of ϵZ= 90 , 50, and 10 % , one can achieve W+-boson tagging rejection factors (1 / ϵW+ ) of 1.7, 8.3 and 1000, respectively. It is not possible to measure these efficiencies in the data due to the lack of a pure sample of high pT, hadronically decaying Z bosons. However, the modelling of the tagger inputs for boosted W bosons is studied in data using a tt¯ -enriched sample of events in 20.3 fb- 1 of data at s= 8 TeV. The inputs are well modelled within uncertainties, which builds confidence in the expected tagger performance

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal