Constraints on Neutralino masses and mixings from Cosmology and Collider Physics

Bounds on cross section measurements of chargino pair production at LEP yield a bound on the chargino mass. If the GUT relation is assumed, the lightest neutralino must be heavier than \approx 45 -50\GeV. If no GUT relation is assumed, no lower bound on the neutralino mass exists. I derive mass bounds on the lightest neutralino from relic density measurements for relativistic and non-relativistic neutralinos and I derive bounds on the selectron mass from the observed limits on the cross section of the neutralino pair production process e^+e^-\to \x{1}\x{2} at LEP, if the lightest neutralino is massless. I further discuss radiative neutralino production and its background at the future ILC. Finally, I present a method to determine the neutralino couplings to right and left handed selectrons and Z bosons from cross section measurements of radiative neutralino production and neutralino pair production at the ILC.Comment: PhD-Thesis, 101 page

Measurement of radiative neutralino production

We perform the first experimental study with full detector simulation for the radiative production of neutralinos at the linear collider, at sqrt{s} = 500 GeV and realistic beam polarizations. We consider all relevant backgrounds, like the Standard Model background from radiative neutrino production. The longitudinal polarized beams enhance the signal and simultaneously reduce the background, such that statistical errors are significantly reduced. We find that the photon spectrum from the signal process can be well isolated. The neutralino mass and the cross section can be measured at a few per-cent level, with the largest systematic uncertainties from the measurement of the beam polarization and the beam energy spectrum.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the 2011 International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS11), Sept. 26-30, Granada, Spai

Model-independent WIMP Characterisation using ISR

The prospects of measuring the parameters of WIMP dark matter in a model independent way at the International Linear Collider are investigated. The signal under study is direct WIMP pair production with associated initial state radiation. The analysis is performed in full simulation of the ILD detector concept. With an integrated luminosity of L = 500 fb-1 and realistic beam polarizations the helicity structure of the WIMP couplings to electrons can be determined, and the masses and cross sections can be measured to the percent level. The systematic uncertainties are dominated by the polarization measurement and the luminosity spectrum.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders LCWS1

QCD threshold corrections for gluino pair production at hadron colliders

We present the complete threshold enhanced predictions in QCD for the total cross section of gluino pair production at hadron colliders at next-to-next-to-leading order. Thanks to the computation of the required one-loop hard matching coefficients our results are accurate to the next-to-next-to-leading logarithm. In a brief phenomenological study we provide predictions for the total hadronic cross sections at the LHC and we discuss the uncertainties arising from scale variations and the parton distribution functions

Mass Bounds on a Very Light Neutralino

Within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) we systematically investigate the bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino. We allow for non-universal gaugino masses and thus even consider massless neutralinos, while assuming in general that R-parity is conserved. Our main focus are laboratory constraints. We consider collider data, precision observables, and also rare meson decays to very light neutralinos. We then discuss the astrophysical and cosmological implications. We find that a massless neutralino is allowed by all existing experimental data and astrophysical and cosmological observations.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, minor modification in astro-physical bounds. EPJC versio