Characterising WIMPs at a future e+e−e^+e^- Linear Collider

We investigate the prospects for detecting and measuring the parameters of WIMP dark matter in a model independent way at the International Linear Collider. The signal under study is direct WIMP pair production with associated initial state radiation $e^+e^- \rightarrow \chi\chi\gamma$. The analysis accounts for the beam energy spectrum of the ILC and the dominant machine induced backgrounds. The influence of the detector parameters are incorporated by full simulation and event reconstruction within the framework of the ILD detector concept. We show that by using polarised beams, the detection potential is significantly increased by reduction of the dominant SM background of radiative neutrino production $e^+e^- \rightarrow \nu\nu\gamma$. The dominant sources of systematic uncertainty are the precision of the polarisation measurement and the shape of the beam energy spectrum. With an integrated luminosity of 500 fb the helicity structure of the interaction involved can be inferred, and the masses and cross-sections can be measured with a relative accuracy of the order of 1 %.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Forward tracking at the next e+ e- collider part I: the physics case

In a series of notes we explore the detector requirements of the forward tracking region for a future $e^+ e^-$ collider with a center-of-mass energy in the range from 500 GeV to 3 TeV. In this first part we investigate the relevance of the forward region for a range of physics processes that are likely to be relevant in such a machine. We find that many examples can be found where excellent performance of the forward detector system may lead to a considerable increase of the physics output of the experiment. A particularly clear physics case can be made for the reconstruction of electrons at small polar angle.Comment: category: instrumentation

Probing SUSY CP Violation in Two-Body Stop Decays at the LHC

We study CP asymmetries in two-body decays of top squarks into neutralinos and sleptons at the LHC. These asymmetries are used to probe the CP phases possibly present in the stop and neutralino sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Taking into account bounds from experimental electric dipole moment searches, we identify areas in the mSUGRA parameter space where CP asymmetries can be sizeable and discuss the feasibility of their observation at the LHC. As a result, potentially detectable CP asymmetries in stop decays at the LHC are found, motivating further detailed experimental studies for probing SUSY CP phases.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures, error in Yukawa coupling corrected, revised benchmark scenario and figures, JHEP versio

Probing the Z? sector of the minimal B?L model at future linear colliders in the e+e? ? ?+?? process

We study the capabilities of future electron-positron Linear Colliders, with centre-of-mass energy at the TeV scale, in accessing the parameter space of a Z' boson within the minimal B?L model. In such a model, wherein the Standard Model gauge group is augmented by a broken U(1)B?L symmetry – with B(L) being the baryon(lepton) number — the emerging Z' mass is expected to be in the above energy range. We carry out a detailed comparison between the discovery regions mapped over a two-dimensional configuration space (Z' mass and coupling) at the Large Hadron Collider and possible future Linear Colliders for the case of di-muon production. As known in the literature for other Z' models, we confirm that leptonic machines, as compared to the CERN hadronic accelerator, display an additional potential in discovering a B?L Z' boson as well as in allowing one to study its properties at a level of precision well beyond that of any of the existing colliders