Supernova matter at subnuclear densities as a resonant Fermi gas: Enhancement of neutrino rates

At low energies nucleon-nucleon interactions are resonant and therefore supernova matter at subnuclear densities has many similarities to atomic gases with interactions dominated by a Feshbach resonance. We calculate the rates of neutrino processes involving nucleon-nucleon collisions and show that these are enhanced in mixtures of neutrons and protons at subnuclear densities due to the large scattering lengths. As a result, the rate for neutrino pair bremsstrahlung and absorption is significantly larger below 10^{13} g cm^{-3} compared to rates used in supernova simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published version, NORDITA-2014-2

Triple product correlations in top squark decays

We propose several T-odd asymmetries in the decay chains of the top squarks $\tilde t_m \to t \tilde \chi^0_k$ and $t\to bW^+\to bl\nu$ and $\tilde\chi^0_k \to l^\pm\tilde l_n^\mp \to l^\pm l^\mp\tilde\chi^0_1$, for $l =e,\mu,\tau$. We calculate the asymmetries within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters $M_1$, $\mu$ and $A_t$. We give the analytic formulae for the decay distributions. We present numerical results for the asymmetries and estimate the event rates necessary to observe them. The largest T-odd asymmetry can be as large as 40%.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures; misprints corrected; reference adde

Interference of Higgs boson resonances in mu^+ mu^- -> neutralino_i neutralino_j with longitudinal beam polarization

We study the interference of resonant Higgs boson exchange in neutralino production in \mu^+ \mu^- annihilation with longitudinally polarized beams. We use the energy distribution of the decay lepton in the process \neutralino_j \to \ell^\pm \slepton^\mp to determine the polarization of the neutralinos. In the CP conserving Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model a non-vanishing asymmetry in the lepton energy spectrum is caused by the interference of Higgs boson exchange channels with different CP eigenvalues. The contribution of this interference is large if the heavy neutral bosons H and A are nearly degenerate. We show that the asymmetry can be used to determine the couplings of the neutral Higgs bosons to the neutralinos. In particular, the asymmetry allows to determine the relative phase of the couplings. We find large asymmetries and cross sections for a set of reference scenarios with nearly degenerate neutral Higgs bosons.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, minor typos corrected, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

CP asymmetries in the supersymmetric trilepton signal at the LHC

In the CP-violating Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, we study the production of a neutralino-chargino pair at the LHC. For their decays into three leptons, we analyze CP asymmetries which are sensitive to the CP phases of the neutralino and chargino sector. We present analytical formulas for the entire production and decay process, and identify the CP-violating contributions in the spin correlation terms. This allows us to define the optimal CP asymmetries. We present a detailed numerical analysis of the cross sections, branching ratios, and the CP observables. For light neutralinos, charginos, and squarks, the asymmetries can reach several 10%. We estimate the discovery potential for the LHC to observe CP violation in the trilepton channel.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures, version to appear in EPJC, discussion(s) added, typo in (D.79), (D.118) corrected, new Fig. 7; The European Physical Journal C, Volume 72, Issue 3, 201

A description of the neutralino observables in terms of projectors

Applying Jarlskog's treatment of the CKM matrix, to the neutralino mass matrix in MSSM for real soft gaugino SUSY breaking and $\mu$-parameters, we construct explicit analytical expressions for the four projectors which acting on any neutralino state project out the mass eigenstates. Analytical expressions for the neutralino mass eigenvalues in terms of the various SUSY parameters, are also given. It is shown that these projectors and mass eigenvalues are sufficient to describe any physical observable involving neutralinos, to any order of perturbation theory. As an example, the $e^-e^+ \to \tilde \chi^0_i \tilde \chi^0_j$ cross section at tree level is given in terms of these projectors. The expected magnitude of their various matrix elements in plausible SUSY scenarios is also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, no figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. e-mail: [email protected]

Top Squarks and Bottom Squarks in the MSSM with Complex Parameters

We present a phenomenological study of top squarks (~t_1,2) and bottom squarks (~b_1,2) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with complex parameters A_t, A_b, \mu and M_1. In particular we focus on the CP phase dependence of the branching ratios of (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) decays. We give the formulae of the two-body decay widths and present numerical results. We find that the effect of the phases on the (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) decays can be quite significant in a large region of the MSSM parameter space. This could have important implications for (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) searches and the MSSM parameter determination in future collider experiments. We have also estimated the accuracy expected in the determination of the parameters of ~t_i and ~b_i by a global fit of the measured masses, decay branching ratios and production cross sections at e^+ e^- linear colliders with polarized beams. Analysing two scenarios, we find that the fundamental parameters apart from A_t and A_b can be determined with errors of 1% to 2%, assuming an integrated luminosity of 1 ab^-1 and a sufficiently large c.m.s. energy to produce also the heavier ~t_2 and ~b_2 states. The parameter A_t can be determined with an error of 2 - 3%, whereas the error on A_b is likely to be of the order of 50%.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, comments and references added, conclusions unchanged; version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Improved full one--loop corrections to A^0 -> \sq_1 \sq_2 and \sq_2 -> \sq_1 A^0

We calculate the full electroweak one-loop corrections to the decay of the CP-odd Higgs boson A^0 into scalar quarks in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). Due to the complex structure of the electroweak sector a proper renormalization of many parameters in the on-shell renormalization scheme is necessary. For the decay into sbottom quarks, especially for large tanb, the corrections can be very large in the on-shell renormalization scheme, which makes the perturbation series unreliable. We solve this problem by an appropriate definition of the tree-level coupling in terms of running quark masses and running trilinear couplings A_q. We also discuss the decay of heavy scalar quarks into light scalar quarks and A^0. We find that the corrections are significant and therefore cannot be neglected.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Fig. 8 correcte

CP-odd observables in neutralino production with transverse e+ and e- beam polarization

We consider neutralino production and decay e^+e^ --> chi^0_i chi^0_j, chi^0_j --> chi^0_1 f \bar{f} at a linear collider with transverse e^+ and e^- beam polarization. We propose CP asymmetries by means of the azimuthal distribution of the produced neutralinos and of that of the final leptons, while taking also into account the subsequent decays of the neutralinos. We include the complete spin correlations between production and decay. Our framework is the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters. In a numerical study we show that there are good prospects to observe these CP asymmetries at the International Linear Collider and estimate the accuracy expected for the determination of the phases in the neutralino sector.Comment: 30 pages, minor changes in the introduction, references adde