Search

In this note, we give a definitive basis for the dimension-eight operators leading to quartic -- but no cubic -- interactions among electroweak gauge bosons. These are often called anomalous quartic gauge couplings, or aQGCs. We distinguish in particular the CP-even ones from their CP-odd counterparts., Comment: LHC Effective Field Theory Working Group Note, 8 pages, 3 tables

We study the production of three electroweak gauge bosons at the LHC, in the effective field theory of the standard model, at dimension six and next-to-leading order in QCD. We present results for inclusive cross-sections and differential distributions, finding that these QCD corrections are large, often vary across the phase-space and notably differ from those observed in the standard model. We then explore the potential of the recently observed triboson production processes for improving the sensitivity brought by electroweak precision observables and diboson data. The additional sensitivity we observe is dominated by resonant Higgs boson contributions, with decays to photon pairs in particular. A global analysis including Higgs boson data is therefore needed for a fair assessment of the future reach of triboson measurements on heavy new physics., Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, 14 tables

We extend the covariant color-kinematics duality introduced by Cheung and Mangan to effective field theories. We focus in particular on relations between the effective field theories of gluons only and of gluons coupled to bi-adjoint scalars. Maps are established between their respective equations of motion and between their tree-level scattering amplitudes. An additional rule for the replacement of flavor structures by kinematic factors realizes the map between higher-derivative amplitudes. As an example of new relations, the pure-gluon amplitudes of mass dimension up to eight, featuring insertions of the $F^3$ and $F^4$ operators which satisfy the traditional color-kinematics duality, can be generated at all multiplicities from just renormalizable amplitudes of gluons and bi-adjoint scalars. We also obtain closed-form expressions for the kinematic numerators of the dimension-six gluon effective field theory, which are valid in $D$ space-time dimensions. Finally, we find strong evidence that this extended covariant color-kinematics duality relates the $(DF)^2+$YM$(+\phi^3)$ theories which, at low energies, generate infinite towers of operators satisfying the traditional color-kinematics duality, beyond aforementioned $F^3$ and $F^4$ ones., Comment: 28 pages, 1 appendix

We present a new on-shell method for the matching of ultraviolet models featuring massive states onto their massless effective field theory. We employ a dispersion relation in the space of complex momentum dilations to capture, in a single variable, the relevant analytic structure of scattering amplitudes at any multiplicity. Multi-variate complex analysis and crossing considerations are therefore avoided. Remarkably, no knowledge about the infrared effective field theory is required in dimensional regularisation. All matching information is extracted from the residues and discontinuities of the ultraviolet scattering amplitudes, which unitarity expresses in terms of lower-point and lower-loop results, respectively. This decomposition into simpler building blocks could deliver new insights in the structure of the effective field theories obtained from classes of ultraviolet scenarios and facilitate computations at higher loop orders., Comment: 11 pages + appendices, 2 figures

This report summarizes the work of the Energy Frontier Topical Group on EW Physics: Heavy flavor and top quark physics (EF03) of the 2021 Community Summer Study (Snowmass). It aims to highlight the physics potential of top-quark studies and heavy-flavor production processes (bottom and charm) at the HL-LHC and possible future hadron and lepton colliders and running scenarios.

Could new physics first manifest itself in Higgs self-coupling measurements? In other words, how large could deviations in the Higgs self-coupling be, if other Higgs and electroweak measurements are compatible with Standard Model predictions? Using theoretical arguments supported by concrete models we derive a bound on the ratio of self-coupling to single-Higgs coupling deviations in ultraviolet completions of the Standard Model where parameters are not fine-tuned. Broadly speaking, a one-loop hierarchy is allowed. We thus stress that self-coupling measurements at the LHC and future colliders probe uncharted parameter space, presenting discovery potential even in the absence of emerging hints in single-Higgs coupling measurements. For instance, if other observables show less than two-sigma deviations by the end of the LHC programme, the Higgs self-coupling deviations could still exceed 200% in the models discussed, without introducing fine-tuning of ultraviolet parameters., Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. v2: technical problem fixed in Fig 1, otherwise unchanged. v3: minor changes, matches the published version

In this contribution to the 2021 Snowmass community planning exercise that informs the American strategy for particle physics, we present the prospects for measurements of the top-quark couplings at future colliders. Projections are presented for the high luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider and a future Higgs/electroweak/top factory electron-positron collider. Results are presented for the expected bounds on Wilson coefficients of the relevant SMEFT operators from a global fit to the top physics sector., Comment: Contribution Snowmass 2021

In this contribution to the Snowmass 2021 process we review theoretical developments in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) with a focus on effects at the dimension-8 level and beyond. We review the theoretical advances that led to the complete construction of the operator bases for the dimension-8 and dimension-9 SMEFT Lagrangians. We discuss the possibility of obtaining all-orders results in the $1/\Lambda$ expansion for certain SMEFT observables as well as the current status of renormalization group running and implications for positivity, and briefly present the on-shell approach to constructing SMEFT amplitudes. Finally we present several new phenomenological effects that first arise at dimension-8 and discuss the impact of these terms on experimental analyses., Comment: 37 pages, 6 figures; contribution to Snowmass 2021; new section and additional authors

In Twin Higgs models the dominant source of fine-tuning is the cancellation of order $v^2/f^2$ required to obtain a Standard Model-like Higgs, where $v$ and $f$ are the electroweak and new physics scales, respectively. Recently proposed Gegenbauer Goldstone models naturally realise $v^2/f^2 \ll 1$ and hence remove this source of fine-tuning. By combining the two into `Gegenbauer's Twin', we obtain a symmetry-based model for Higgs sector naturalness consistent with current collider measurements without fine-tuning of parameters. Single-Higgs coupling deviations of a few percent and trilinear self-coupling deviations of order one are irreducible in the natural parameter space. Thus, notably, the fingerprints of Gegenbauer's Twin could emerge first through di-Higgs measurements at the High-Luminosity LHC., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; v2: minor changes and added Figure 1, matches published version

The truncation of the standard-model effective field theory, its validity and the associated uncertainties have been discussed in meetings of the LHC EFT WG. Proposals were made by participants to address these issues. No consensus was reached and no formal recommendation is therefore put forward at this time. None of the proposals has been approved or validated and further work is needed to establish a prescription. This note aims at summarizing the proposals and points of debate., Comment: LHC EFT WG note, 8 pages; v2 includes a summary of the additional proposal D

We explore the double copy of effective field theories (EFTs), in the recently proposed generalized color-kinematics and Kawai-Lewellen-Tye (KLT) approaches. In the former, we systematically construct scalar numerators satisfying the Jacobi identities from simpler numerator "seeds" with trace-like permutation properties. This construction has the advantage of being easily applicable to any multiplicity, which we exemplify up to 6-point. It employs the linear map between color factors formed by single traces of generators and by products of the structure constants, which also relates the generalized KLT and color-kinematics formalisms, allowing to produce KLT kernels at arbitrary order in the EFT expansion. At 4-point, we show that all EFT kernels are generated and that they only yield double-copy amplitudes which can also be obtained from the traditional KLT kernel. We perform initial checks suggesting that the same conclusions also hold at 5-point. We focus on single-trace massless scalar EFTs which however also control the higher-derivative corrections to gauge and gravity theories., Comment: 28 pages, 3 appendices, v2 matches published version

We study the on-shell version of the Higgs mechanism in effective theories (EFTs) containing particles of different spins, focusing on contact terms as a simple starting point. We derive the massive contact terms and their coefficients from the massless amplitudes of the EFT above the symmetry breaking scale, by covariantizing the massless contact terms under the massive little group. In the little-group-covariant massive-spinor formalism, this notationally amounts to bolding spinor labels. Mass-suppressed contributions to the contact-term coefficients arise from higher-point contact terms with additional soft Higgs legs. We apply this procedure to obtain massive four-point amplitudes featuring scalars, spin 1/2 fermions and vectors, in the standard-model EFT. The subleading helicity-flipped components of each massive contact term, which are dictated by little-group covariance, are associated with the residues of factorizable massless amplitudes. Extra "frozen" Higgses emitted from each leg of a massless contact term supply the additional light-like momentum component, needed to form a massive leg of the same polarization. As another application, we derive various components of massive three-point amplitudes from massless amplitudes with up to three additional Higgses, in a standard-model-like toy model., Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, 4 appendices

Different sets of electroweak input parameters are discussed for SMEFT predictions at the LHC. The {Gmu,mZ,mW} one is presently recommended., Comment: LHC EFT WG note, 5 pages

We investigate radiatively stable classes of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) potentials for approximate spontaneously broken $\mathrm{SO}(N+1)\to\mathrm{SO}(N)$. Using both the one-loop effective action and symmetry, it is shown that a Gegenbauer polynomial potential is radiatively stable, being effectively an `eigenfunction' from a radiative perspective. In Gegenbauer pNGB models, one naturally and automatically obtains $v \propto f/n$, where $n\in 2\mathbb{Z}$ is the order of the Gegenbauer polynomial. For a Gegenbauer Higgs boson, this breaks the usual correlation between Higgs coupling corrections and `$v/f$' tuning. Based on this, we argue that to conclusively determine whether or not the Higgs is a composite pNGB in scenarios with up to $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$ fine-tuning will require going beyond both the Higgs coupling precision and heavy resonance mass reach of the High-Luminosity LHC., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, v2: minor changes, matches the published version

We present the automation of one-loop computations in the standard-model effective field theory at dimension six. Our general implementation, dubbed SMEFT@NLO, covers all types of operators: bosonic, two- and four-fermion ones. Included ultraviolet and rational counterterms presently allow for fully differential predictions, possibly matched to parton shower, up to the one-loop level in the strong coupling or in four-quark operator coefficients. Exact flavor symmetries are imposed among light quark generations and an initial focus is set on top-quark interactions in the fermionic sector. We illustrate the potential of this implementation with novel loop-induced and next-to-leading-order computations relevant for top-quark, electroweak, and Higgs-boson phenomenology at the LHC and future colliders., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, v2: matches published version, minor changes and new scale choice in four-top-quark production (table II)

The purely on-shell approach to effective field theories requires the construction of independent contact terms. Employing the little-group-covariant massive-spinor formalism, we present the first systematic derivation of independent four-point contact terms involving massive scalars, spin-1/2 fermions, and vectors. Independent three-point amplitudes are also listed for massive particles up to spin-3. We make extensive use of the simple relations between massless and massive amplitudes in this formalism. Our general results are specialized to the (broken-phase) particle content of the electroweak sector of the standard model. The (anti)symmetrization among identical particles is then accounted for. This work opens the way for the on-shell computation of massive four-point amplitudes., Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure and 5 tables; v2: vvvs counting corrected

We establish a simple formula for the minimal dimension of operators leading to any helicity amplitude. It eases the systematic enumeration of independent operators from the construction of massless non-factorizable on-shell amplitudes. Little-group constraints can then be solved algorithmically for each helicity configuration to extract a complete set of spinor structures with lowest dimension. Occasionally, further reduction using momentum conservation, on-shell conditions and Schouten identities is required. A systematic procedure to account for the latter is presented. Dressing spinor structures with dot products of momenta finally yields the independent Lorentz structures for each helicity amplitude. We apply these procedures to amplitudes involving particles of spins 0,1/2,1,2. Spin statistics and elementary selection rules due to gauge symmetry lead to an enumeration of operators involving gravitons and standard-model particles, in the effective field theory denoted GRSMEFT. We also list the independent spinor structures generated by operators involving standard-model particles only. In both cases, we cover operators of dimension up to eight., Comment: 10 pages, 2 tables, v3: also covering special six-fermion case

We apply on-shell methods to the bottom-up construction of electroweak amplitudes, allowing for both renormalizable and non-renormalizable interactions. We use the little-group covariant massive-spinor formalism, and flesh out some of its details along the way. Thanks to the compact form of the resulting amplitudes, many of their properties, and in particular the constraints of perturbative unitarity, are easily seen in this formalism. Our approach is purely bottom-up, assuming just the standard-model electroweak spectrum as well as the conservation of electric charge and fermion number. The most general massive three-point amplitudes consistent with these symmetries are derived and studied in detail, as the primary building blocks for the construction of scattering amplitudes. We employ a simple argument, based on tree-level unitarity of four-point amplitudes, to identify the three-point amplitudes that are non-renormalizable at tree level. This bottom-up analysis remarkably reproduces many low-energy relations implied by electroweak symmetry through the standard-model Higgs mechanism and beyond it. We then discuss four-point amplitudes. The gluing of three-point amplitudes into four-point amplitudes in the massive spinor helicity formalism is clarified. As an example, we work out the $\psi^c \psi Zh$ amplitude, including also the non-factorizable part. The latter is an all-order expression in the effective-field-theory expansion. Further constraints on the couplings are obtained by requiring perturbative unitarity. In the $\psi^c \psi Zh$ example, one for instance obtains the renormalizable-level relations between vector and fermion masses and gauge and Yukawa couplings. We supplement our bottom-up derivations with a matching of three- and four-point amplitude coefficients onto the standard-model effective field theory (SMEFT) in the broken electroweak phase., Comment: 55 pages, 2 figures, references added, journal version

We evaluate the implications of LHC and LEP/SLC measurements for the electro-weak couplings of the top and bottom quarks. We derive global bounds on the Wilson coefficients of ten two-fermion operators in an effective field theory description. The combination of hadron collider data with $Z$-pole measurements is found to yield tight limits on the operator coefficients that modify the left-handed couplings of the bottom and top quark to the $Z$ boson. We also present projections for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC and for future electron-positron colliders. The bounds on the operator coefficients are expected to improve substantially during the remaining LHC programme, by factors of $1$ to $5$ if systematic uncertainties are scaled as statistical ones. The operation of an $e^+e^-$ collider at a center-of-mass energy above the top-quark pair production threshold is expected to further improve the bounds by one to two orders of magnitude. The combination of measurements in $pp$ and $e^+e^-$ collisions allows for a percent-level determination of the top-quark Yukawa coupling, that is robust in a global fit., Comment: 46 pages, 5 figures. Version corrected on december 2020

LEP precision on electroweak measurements was sufficient not to hamper the extraction of Higgs couplings at the LHC. But the foreseen permille-level Higgs measurements at future lepton colliders might suffer from parametric electroweak uncertainties in the absence of a dedicated electroweak program. We perform a joint, complete and consistent effective-field-theory analysis of Higgs and electroweak processes. The full electroweak-sector dependence of the $e^+e^- \to WW$ production process is notably accounted for, using statistically optimal observables. Up-to-date HL-LHC projections are combined with CEPC, FCC-ee, ILC and CLIC ones. For circular colliders, our results demonstrate the importance of a new $Z$-pole program for the robust extraction of Higgs couplings. At linear colliders, we show how exploiting multiple polarizations and centre-of-mass energies is crucial to mitigate contaminations from electroweak parameter uncertainties on the Higgs physics program. We also investigate the potential of alternative electroweak measurements to compensate for the lack of direct $Z$-pole run, considering for instance radiative return to these energies. Conversely, we find that Higgs measurements at linear colliders could improve our knowledge of the $Z$ couplings to electrons., Comment: 49 pages, 13 figures and 8 tables

We propose a procedure to cross-validate Monte Carlo implementations of the standard model effective field theory. It is based on the numerical comparison of squared amplitudes computed at specific phase-space and parameter points in pairs of implementations. Interactions are fully linearised in the effective field theory expansion. The squares of linear effective field theory amplitudes and their interference with standard-model contributions are compared separately. Such pairwise comparisons are primarily performed at tree level and a possible extension to the one-loop level is also briefly considered. We list the current standard model effective field theory implementations and the comparisons performed to date., Comment: agreement achieved under the auspices of the LHC Top and Electroweak Working Groups, and of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group

We perform a global effective-field-theory analysis to assess the combined precision on Higgs couplings, triple gauge-boson couplings, and top-quark couplings, at future circular $e^+e^-$ colliders, with a focus on runs below the $t\bar t$ production threshold. Deviations in the top-quark sector entering as one-loop corrections are consistently taken into account in Higgs and diboson processes. We find that future lepton colliders running at center-of-mass energies below the $t\bar t$ production threshold can still provide useful information on top-quark couplings, by measuring virtual top-quark effects. With rate and differential measurements, the indirect individual sensitivity achievable is better than at the high-luminosity LHC. However, strong correlations between the extracted top-quark and Higgs couplings are also present and lead to much weaker global constraints on top-quark couplings. This implies that a direct probe of top-quark couplings above the $t\bar t$ production threshold is helpful also for the determination of Higgs and triple-gauge-boson couplings. In addition, we find that below the $e^+e^-\to t\bar th$ production threshold, the top-quark Yukawa coupling can be determined by its loop corrections to all Higgs production and decay channels. Degeneracy with the $ggh$ coupling can be resolved, and even a global limit is competitive with the prospects of a linear collider above the threshold. This provides an additional means of determining the top-quark Yukawa coupling indirectly at lepton colliders., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, v2: minor changes, matches the published version

In composite Higgs (CH) models, large mixings between the top quark and the new strongly interacting sector are required to generate its sizeable Yukawa coupling. Precise measurements involving top as well as left-handed bottom quarks therefore offer an interesting opportunity to probe such new physics scenarios. We study the impact of third-generation-quark pair production at future lepton colliders, translating prospective effective-field-theory sensitivities into the CH parameter space. Our results show that one can probe a significant fraction of the natural CH parameter space through the top portal, especially at TeV centre-of-mass energies., Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables

We study the sensitivity to physics beyond the standard model of precise top-quark pair production measurements at future lepton colliders. A global effective-field-theory approach is employed, including all dimension-six operators of the Warsaw basis which involve a top-quark and give rise to tree-level amplitudes that interfere with standard-model $e^+e^-\to t\,\bar t\to bW^+\bar bW^-$ ones in the limit of vanishing $b$-quark mass. Four-fermion and CP-violating contributions are taken into account. Circular-collider-, ILC- and CLIC-like benchmark run scenarios are examined. We compare the constraining power of various observables to a set of statistically optimal ones which maximally exploit the information contained in the fully differential $bW^+\bar bW^-$ distribution. The enhanced sensitivity gained on the linear contributions of dimension-six operators leads to bounds that are insensitive to quadratic ones. Even with statistically optimal observables, two centre-of-mass energies are required for constraining simultaneously two- and four-fermion operators. The impact of the centre-of-mass energy lever arm is discussed, that of beam polarization as well. A realistic estimate of the precision that can be achieved in ILC- and CLIC-like operating scenarios yields individual limits on the electroweak couplings of the top quark that are one to three orders of magnitude better than constraints set with Tevatron and LHC run I data, and three to two hundred times better than the most optimistic projections made for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC. Clean global constraints can moreover be obtained at lepton colliders, robustly covering the multidimensional effective-field-theory space with minimal model dependence., Comment: 6 appendices, 66 pages, 37 figures, 10 tables, codes and numerics at https://github.com/gdurieux/optimal_observables_ee2tt2bwbw

We perform a global effective-field-theory analysis to assess the precision on the determination of the Higgs trilinear self-coupling at future lepton colliders. Two main scenarios are considered, depending on whether the center-of-mass energy of the colliders is sufficient or not to access Higgs pair production processes. Low-energy machines allow for ~40% precision on the extraction of the Higgs trilinear coupling through the exploitation of next-to-leading-order effects in single Higgs measurements, provided that runs at both 240/250 GeV and 350 GeV are available with luminosities in the few attobarns range. A global fit, including possible deviations in other SM couplings, is essential in this case to obtain a robust determination of the Higgs self-coupling. High-energy machines can easily achieve a ~20% precision through Higgs pair production processes. In this case, the impact of additional coupling modifications is milder, although not completely negligible., Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures

We examine the constraints that future lepton colliders would impose on the effective field theory describing modifications of top-quark interactions beyond the standard model, through measurements of the $e^+e^-\to bW^+\:\bar bW^-$ process. Statistically optimal observables are exploited to constrain simultaneously and efficiently all relevant operators. Their constraining power is sufficient for quadratic effective-field-theory contributions to have negligible impact on limits which are therefore basis independent. This is contrasted with the measurements of cross sections and forward-backward asymmetries. An overall measure of constraints strength, the global determinant parameter, is used to determine which run parameters impose the strongest restriction on the multidimensional effective-field-theory parameter space., Comment: 5 pages, contribution to DIS 2017 proceedings

Precision study of electroweak symmetry breaking strongly motivates the construction of a lepton collider with center-of-mass energy of at least 240 GeV. Besides Higgsstrahlung ($e^+e^- \to hZ$), such a collider would measure weak boson pair production ($e^+e^- \to WW$) with an astonishing precision. The weak-boson-fusion production process ($e^+e^- \to \nu \bar{\nu} h$) provides an increasingly powerful handle at higher center-of-mass energies. High energies also benefit the associated top-Higgs production ($e^+e^-\to t\bar th$) that is crucial to constrain directly the top Yukawa coupling. The impact and complementarity of differential measurements, at different center-of-mass energies and for several beam polarization configurations, are studied in a global effective-field-theory framework. We define a "global determinant parameter" (GDP) which characterizes the overall strengthening of constraints independently of the choice of operator basis. The reach of the CEPC, CLIC, FCC-ee, and ILC designs is assessed., Comment: 55 pages, lots of figures, v2: references added, minor corrections, extended discussions on quadratic EFT contributions and beam polarization effects, matches published version in JHEP

Higgs boson compositeness is a phenomenologically viable scenario addressing the hierarchy problem. In minimal models, the Higgs boson is the only degree of freedom of the strong sector below the strong interaction scale. We present here the simplest extension of such a framework with an additional composite spin-zero singlet. To this end, we adopt an effective field theory approach and develop a set of rules to estimate the size of the various operator coefficients, relating them to the parameters of the strong sector and its structural features. As a result, we obtain the patterns of new interactions affecting both the new singlet and the Higgs boson's physics. We identify the characteristics of the singlet field which cause its effects on Higgs physics to dominate over the ones inherited from the composite nature of the Higgs boson. Our effective field theory construction is supported by comparisons with explicit UV models., Comment: Matches JHEP version

Beauty baryons are being observed in large numbers in the LHCb detector. The rich kinematic distributions of their multibody decays are therefore becoming accessible and provide us with new opportunities to search for CP violation. We analyse the angular distributions of some three- and four-body decays of spin-$1/2$ baryons using the Jacob-Wick helicity formalism. The asymmetries that provide access to small differences of CP-odd phases between decay amplitudes of identical CP-even phases are notably discussed. The understanding gained on processes featuring specific resonant intermediate states allows us to establish which asymmetries are relevant for what purpose. It is for instance shown that some CP-odd angular asymmetries measured by the LHCb collaboration in the $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda\,\varphi \to p\,\pi\, K^+ K^-$ decay are expected to vanish identically., Comment: 2 figures, 16 tables, minor comments and references added in v2 (published version)

We study rare four-body decays of the Z-boson involving at least one neutrino and one charged lepton. Large destructive interferences make these decays very sensitive to the Z couplings to neutrinos. As the identified charged leptons can determine the neutrino flavors, these decays probe the universality of the Z couplings to neutrinos. The rare four-body processes could be accurately measured at future lepton colliders, leading to percent level precision., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; v2: minor updates, matches published version

We revisit the topic of triple-product asymmetries which probe CP violation through differential distributions. We construct distributions with well-defined discrete symmetry properties and characterize the asymmetries formed upon them. It is stressed that the simplest asymmetries may not be optimal. We explore systematic generalizations having limited reliance on the process dynamics and phase-space parametrization. They exploit larger fractions of the information contained in differential distributions and may lead to increased sensitivities to CP violation. Our detailed treatment of the case of spinless four-body decays paves the way for further experimental studies., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables

We adopt a fully gauge-invariant effective-field-theory approach for parametrizing top-quark flavor-changing-neutral-current interactions. It allows for a global interpretation of experimental constraints (or measurements) and the systematic treatment of higher-order quantum corrections. We discuss some recent results obtained at next-to-leading-order accuracy in QCD and perform, at that order, a first global analysis of a subset of the available experimental limits in terms of effective operator coefficients. We encourage experimental collaborations to adopt this approach and extend the analysis by using all information they have prime access to., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, v2 matches published version

Despite strong experimental evidences for their conservation at low energies, the baryon $B$ and lepton $L$ numbers are not expected to be absolute symmetries. Already violated in the Standard Model (SM) by non-perturbative effects (tiny at low temperatures and energies) and not justified by any fundamental principle, $B$ and $L$ appear naturally violated in beyond the Standard Model (BSM) scenarios, e.g. in supersymmetry (SUSY). The fact that any violation remained unobserved at low energies can nonetheless be explained, without pushing the associated characteristic sale beyond the TeV, by using SM flavour symmetries implemented BSM thanks to the Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) prescription. Violation effects could therefore be observable at the LHC. Same-sign (anti-)tops, sometimes leading to a distinctive predominance of negatively charged lepton pairs over positively charged ones, is a clean signature that is for instance generically present in R-parity violating supersymmetry., Comment: 4 pages, proceedings of the 2013 Rencontres de Blois

Baryonic R-parity violation could explain why low-scale supersymmetry has not yet been discovered at colliders: sparticles would be hidden in the intense hadronic activity. However, if the known flavor structures are any guide, the largest baryon number violating couplings are those involving the top/stop, so a copious production of same-sign top-quark pairs is in principle possible. Such a signal, with its low irreducible background and efficient identification through same-sign dileptons, provides us with tell-tale signs of baryon number violating supersymmetry. Interestingly, this statement is mostly independent of the details of the supersymmetric mass spectrum. So, in this paper, after analyzing the sparticle decay chains and lifetimes, we formulate a simplified benchmark strategy that covers most supersymmetric scenarios. We then use this information to interpret the same-sign dilepton searches of CMS, draw approximate bounds on the gluino and squark masses, and extrapolate the reach of the future 14 TeV runs., Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix

We observe that the flavour symmetries of the Standard Model gauge sector, broken as they are in the Standard Model Yukawa Lagrangian, naturally suppress baryon and lepton number violation at low energies and, simultaneously, make it accessible at the LHC through resonant processes involving at least six fermions from all three generations. We establish a model independent classification of such transitions and identify two classes that give rise to particularly clean LHC signatures, namely $\bar t \mu^+ e^+$ and $\bar t \bar t$ + jets., Comment: 4 pages, proceedings of the 2013 Rencontres de Moriond, Electroweak and Unified Theories session

One of the most puzzling questions in particle physics concerns the status of the baryon (B) and lepton (L) quantum numbers. On the theoretical side, most new physics scenarios naturally lead to their non-conservation and some amount of violation is actually needed to explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. On the experimental side, low-energy constraints such as those on proton decay are so stringent that it is generally believed that no B and L violation will ever be seen in laboratories. We observe that this apparent contradiction, however, disappears when the flavor symmetries involving all three generations are taken into account. We then identify model-independent classes of B and/or L violating six-fermion-based processes that indeed simultaneously satisfy low-energy constraints and produce clearly identifiable signals at the LHC. Finally, through simplified models, we study two classes characterized by (\Delta B;\Delta L) = (\pm 1;\pm 3) and (\pm 2; 0), that lead to particularly striking signatures (t \mu^+ e^+ and \bar t \bar t + jets, respectively)., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; v2: version to appear in Phys.Lett.B

Subject to strong experimental constraints at low energies, baryon number violation is nonetheless well motivated from a theoretical point of view. We examine the possibility of observing baryon-number-violating top-quark production or decay at hadron colliders. We adopt a model independent effective approach and focus on operators with minimal mass-dimension. Corresponding effective coefficients could be directly probed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) already with an integrated luminosity of 1 inverse femtobarn at 7 TeV, and further constrained with 30 (100) inverse femtobarns at 7 (14) TeV., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, v2 matches the published version, with an extra sign corrected on the first line of eq.(6)