LHC Benchmark Scenarios for the Real Higgs Singlet Extension of the Standard Model

We present benchmark scenarios for searches for an additional Higgs state in the real Higgs singlet extension of the Standard Model in Run 2 of the LHC. The scenarios are selected such that they fulfill all relevant current theoretical and experimental constraints, but can potentially be discovered at the current LHC run. We take into account the results presented in earlier work and update the experimental constraints from relevant LHC Higgs searches and signal rate measurements. The benchmark scenarios are given separately for the low mass and high mass region, i.e. the mass range where the additional Higgs state is lighter or heavier than the discovered Higgs state at around 125 GeV. They have also been presented in the framework of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group.Comment: 23 pages, 9 tables, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1501.02234; v2: one subsection, one figure, and some references added, minor errors corrected. Corresponds to published journal versio

Constraining Extended Scalar Sectors at the LHC and beyond

We give a brief overview of beyond the Standard Model (BSM) theories with an extended scalar sector and their phenomenological status in the light of recent experimental results. We discuss the relevant theoretical and experimental constraints, and show their impact on the allowed parameter space of two specific models: the real scalar singlet extension of the Standard Model (SM) and the Inert Doublet Model. We emphasize the importance of the LHC measurements, both the direct searches for additional scalar bosons, as well as the precise measurements of properties of the Higgs boson of mass 125 GeV. We show the complementarity of these measurements to electroweak and dark matter observables.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures; prepared for submission to MPLA (invited review) v2: several references and small text modification added to align with journal version. 2 small errors in plots correcte

The Electroweak Phase Transition in the Inert Doublet Model

We study the strength of a first-order electroweak phase transition in the Inert Doublet Model (IDM), where particle dark matter (DM) is comprised of the lightest neutral inert Higgs boson. We improve over previous studies in the description and treatment of the finite-temperature effective potential and of the electroweak phase transition. We focus on a set of benchmark models inspired by the key mechanisms in the IDM leading to a viable dark matter particle candidate, and illustrate how to enhance the strength of the electroweak phase transition by adjusting the masses of the yet undiscovered IDM Higgs states. We argue that across a variety of DM masses, obtaining a strong enough first-order phase transition is a generic possibility in the IDM. We find that due to direct dark matter searches and collider constraints, a sufficiently strong transition and a thermal relic density matching the universal DM abundance is possible only in the Higgs funnel regime.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. Improved comments on gauge invariance. Matches published versio

The Not-So-Well Tempered Neutralino

Light electroweakinos, the neutral and charged fermionic supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model $\mathrm{SU}(2)\times\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge bosons and of the two $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ Higgs doublets, are an important target for searches for new physics with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, if the lightest neutralino is the dark matter, constraints from direct dark matter detection experiments rule out large swaths of the parameter space accessible to the LHC, including in large part the so-called "well-tempered" neutralinos. We focus on the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and explore in detail which regions of parameter space are not excluded by null results from direct dark matter detection, assuming exclusive thermal production of neutralinos in the early universe, and illustrate the complementarity with current and future LHC searches for electroweak gauginos. We consider both bino-Higgsino and bino-wino "not-so-well-tempered" neutralinos, i.e. we include models where the lightest neutralino constitutes only part of the cosmological dark matter, with the consequent suppression of the constraints from direct and indirect dark matter searches.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures; v2: minor modifications, matches published versio