Searches for new phenomena at CMS and ATLAS

The prospects of the ATLAS and CMS experiments at LHC for beyond standard model searches are depicted in this document. The presented studies concentrate on the search plans for supersymmetry (SUSY) and beyond in the first few years of data taking.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Presented at Moriond/QCD: XLIVth Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Interaction

Study of Pair-Produced Doubly Charged Higgs Bosons with a Four Muon Final State at the CMS Detector

An analysis of the discovery potential of pairproduced doubly charged Higgs bosons at the CMS detector is presented in this note. Investigated are doubly charged Higgs bosons pairproduced by the Drell-Yan process. A branching ratio of 100% into muon pairs is assumed. The pure muonic decay channel yields a clear signal which is almost free of background. Doubly charged Higgs bosons with masses in the range 100 to 800 GeV are studied, for a low luminosity scenario of L = 2x10^33cm^-2s^-1. The full detector simulation is used. Doubly charged Higgs bosons in this production and decay channel with mass m(H^pm pm) le 650~GeV are expected to be observable at CMS with a significance exceeding 5 sigma at 1 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity. If no signal will be detected for this integrated luminosity, the existence of a doubly charged Higgs Boson with m((H^pm pm) le 760~GeV can be excluded with 95% Confidence level. This exceeds the current exclusion limit for this channel mH^pm pm) le 136~GeV, set by CDF at Tevatron Run II, by 624~GeV

Does ownership matter? Claimant characteristics and case outcomes in investor-state arbitration

The power of foreign investors has become a key component in debates on sovereignty and globalisation. Here the mechanism of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which allows firms legal recourse against host governments, has come to the forefront of debates over corporate rights in the contemporary era. While proponents laud ISDS as a neutral and efficient means of dispute resolution, critics claim that it shields transnational corporations from the oversight of national legal systems while enhancing their ability to interfere in host state policy matters. Despite the rich literature on ISDS, we know relatively little about the identity of corporate actors who use these mechanisms. Who are these foreign firms that take governments to court? Do different companies use these mechanisms to different effect? This article examines the impact of corporate ownership on ISDS outcomes in 241 cases from 1996 to 2014. Our results suggest that ownership matters. While public and private companies demonstrate similar propensities to settle, respondent states are less likely to win cases that are brought by a publicly traded company. For host-governments, this finding is particularly significant given that public companies demand more – and are likely to win more – in damages than private companies.Introduction Explaining ISDS outcomes The costs of arbitration Public vs. private companies and investor state disputes Measuring ISDS outcomes Control variables The determinants of ISDS outcomes - ownership matters Conclusion Acknowledgements Footnotes Reference