Search

We perform a global statistical analysis of the two-Higgs-doublet model with generic sources of flavour violation using \textsf{GAMBIT}. This is particularly interesting in light of deviations from the Standard Model predictions observed in $b\to c\tau\bar \nu$ and $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ transitions as well as the indications for a charged Higgs with a mass of 130\,GeV in top quark decays. Including all relevant constraints from precision, flavour and collider observables, we find that it is possible to simultaneously explain both the charged and neutral current $B$ anomalies. We study the impact of using different values for the $W$ mass and the Standard Model prediction for $g-2$ of the muon and provide predictions for observables that can probe our model in the future such as lepton flavour violation searches at Belle II and Higgs coupling strength measurements at the high-luminosity LHC., Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) are constrained by requirements of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) as their decays significantly impact the formation of the primordial elements. We propose here a model where the primary decay channel for the HNLs is to an axion-like particle (ALP) and a neutrino. Consequently, HNLs can decay earlier and evade the BBN bound for lower masses, provided the ALPs themselves decay considerably later. Further cosmological and astrophysical constraints limit severely the range of validity of the ALP properties. We find that a new parameter region opens up for HNLs with masses between 1 MeV and 1 GeV, and active-sterile neutrino mixing strengths between $10^{-9}$ and $10^{-6}$ that is consistent with constraints and can be probed in future searches. In such a scenario, current bounds as well as sensitivities of future direct HNL searches such as at NA62 and DUNE will be affected., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures

Sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles produced via thermal freeze-out evade many of the strong constraints on heavier DM candidates but at the same time face a multitude of new constraints from laboratory experiments, astrophysical observations and cosmological data. In this work we combine all of these constraints in order to perform frequentist and Bayesian global analyses of fermionic and scalar sub-GeV DM coupled to a dark photon with kinetic mixing. For fermionic DM, we find viable parameter regions close to the dark photon resonance, which expand significantly when including a particle-antiparticle asymmetry. For scalar DM, the velocity-dependent annihilation cross section evades the strongest constraints even in the symmetric case. Using Bayesian model comparison, we show that both asymmetric fermionic DM and symmetric scalar DM are preferred over symmetric fermionic DM due to the reduced fine-tuning penalty. Finally, we explore the discovery prospects of near-future experiments both in the full parameter space and for specific benchmark points. We find that the most commonly used benchmark scenarios are already in tension with existing constraints and propose a new benchmark point that can be targeted with future searches., Comment: 59 pages, 5 tables, 24 figures

The thermal freeze-out mechanism in its classical form is tightly connected to physics beyond the Standard Model around the electroweak scale, which has been the target of enormous experimental efforts. In this work we study a dark matter model in which freeze-out is triggered by a strong first-order phase transition in a dark sector, and show that this phase transition must also happen close to the electroweak scale, i.e. in the temperature range relevant for gravitational wave searches with the LISA mission. Specifically, we consider the spontaneous breaking of a $U(1)^\prime$ gauge symmetry through the vacuum expectation value of a scalar field, which generates the mass of a fermionic dark matter candidate that subsequently annihilates into dark Higgs and gauge bosons. In this set-up the peak frequency of the gravitational wave background is tightly correlated with the dark matter relic abundance, and imposing the observed value for the latter implies that the former must lie in the milli-Hertz range. A peculiar feature of our set-up is that the dark sector is not necessarily in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model during the phase transition, and hence the temperatures of the two sectors evolve independently. Nevertheless, the requirement that the universe does not enter an extended period of matter domination after the phase transition, which would strongly dilute any gravitational wave signal, places a lower bound on the portal coupling that governs the entropy transfer between the two sectors. As a result, the predictions for the peak frequency of gravitational waves in the LISA band are robust, while the amplitude can change depending on the initial dark sector temperature., Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures + appendices

We demonstrate that existing gravitational wave data from LIGO already places constraints on well motivated Pati-Salam models that allow the Standard Model to be embedded within grand unified theories. For the first time in these models we also constrain the parameter space by requiring that the phase transition completes, with the resulting constraint being competitive with the limits from LIGO data. Both constraints are complementary to the LHC constraints and can exclude scenarios that are much heavier than can be probed in colliders. Finally we show that results from future LIGO runs, and the planned Einstein telescope, will substantially increase the limits we place on the parameter space., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, v2: added citations

In this conference paper I present the results from a few global studies of Dark Matter (DM) models, in light of recent constraints from direct detection, indirect detection and collider experiments. I show the most recent analysis of models of singlet Higgs-portal DM, where the DM particle is a scalar, vector, Majorana or Dirac fermion. I also present the results from a global study of an effective field theory of DM, where we find that the model shows a strong preference for a low scale of new physics. For all models I show the prospects for detection or exclusions with future experiments., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Contribution to the proceedings of 8th Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries - DISCRETE 2022, 7-11 November 2022, Baden-Baden, Germany

We present PEANUTS (Propagation and Evolution of Active NeUTrinoS), an open-source Python package for the automatic computation of solar neutrino spectra and active neutrino propagation through Earth. PEANUTS is designed to be fast, by employing analytic formulae for the neutrino propagation through varying matter density, and flexible, by allowing the user to input arbitrary solar models, custom Earth density profiles and general detector locations. It provides functionalities for a fully automated simulation of solar neutrino fluxes at a detector, as well as access to individual routines to perform more specialised computations. The software has been extensively tested against the results of the SNO experiment, providing excellent agreement with their results. In addition, the present text contains a pedagogical derivation of the relations needed to compute the oscillated solar neutrino spectra, neutrino propagation through Earth and nadir exposure of an experiment., Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures

Using the GAMBIT global fitting framework, we constrain the MSSM with an eV-scale gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle, and the six electroweakinos (neutralinos and charginos) as the only other light new states. We combine 15 ATLAS and 12 CMS searches at 13\,TeV, along with a large collection of ATLAS and CMS measurements of Standard Model signatures. This model, which we refer to as the $\tilde G$-EWMSSM, exhibits quite varied collider phenomenology due to its many permitted electroweakino production processes and decay modes. Characteristic $\tilde G$-EWMSSM signal events have two or more Standard Model bosons and missing energy due to the escaping gravitinos. While much of the $\tilde G$-EWMSSM parameter space is excluded, we find several viable parameter regions that predict phenomenologically rich scenarios with multiple neutralinos and charginos within the kinematic reach of the LHC during Run 3, or the High Luminosity LHC. In particular, we identify scenarios with Higgsino-dominated electroweakinos as light as 140 GeV that are consistent with our combined set of collider searches and measurements. The full set of $\tilde G$-EWMSSM parameter samples and GAMBIT input files generated for this work is available via Zenodo., Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables

Global fits explore different parameter regions of a given model and apply constraints obtained at many energy scales. This makes it challenging to perform global fits of simplified models, which may not be valid at high energies. In this study, we derive a unitarity bound for a simplified vector dark matter model with an $s$-channel vector mediator, and apply it to global fits of this model with \GB in order to correctly interpret missing energy searches at the LHC. Two parameter space regions emerge as consistent with all experimental constraints, corresponding to different annihilation modes of the dark matter. We show that although these models are subject to strong validity constraints, they are currently most strongly constrained by measurements less sensitive to the high-energy behaviour of the theory. Understanding when these models cannot be consistently studied will become increasingly relevant as they are applied to LHC Run 3 data., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, v2: matches EPJC version

Simplified models provide a useful way to study the impacts of a small number of new particles on experimental observables and the interplay of those observables, without the need to construct an underlying theory. In this study, we perform global fits of simplified dark matter models with GAMBIT using an up-to-date set of likelihoods for indirect detection, direct detection and collider searches. We investigate models in which a scalar or fermionic dark matter candidate couples to quarks via an s-channel vector mediator. Large parts of parameter space survive for each model. In the case of Dirac or Majorana fermion dark matter, excesses in LHC monojet searches and relic density limits tend to prefer the resonance region, where the dark matter has approximately half the mass of the mediator. A combination of vector and axial-vector couplings to the Dirac candidate also leads to competing constraints from direct detection and unitarity violation., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, v2: matches EPJC version

Axion-like particles (ALPs) decaying into photons are known to affect a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological observables. In this study we focus on ALPs with masses in the keV-MeV range and lifetimes between $10^4$ and $10^{13}$ seconds, corresponding to decays between the end of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the formation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Using the CosmoBit module of the global fitting framework GAMBIT, we combine state-of-the-art calculations of the irreducible ALP freeze-in abundance, primordial element abundances (including photodisintegration through ALP decays), CMB spectral distortions and anisotropies, and constraints from supernovae and stellar cooling. This approach makes it possible for the first time to perform a global analysis of the ALP parameter space while varying the parameters of $\Lambda$CDM as well as several nuisance parameters. We find a lower bound on the ALP mass of around $m_a > 300\,\text{keV}$, which can only be evaded if ALPs are stable on cosmological timescales. Future observations of CMB spectral distortions with a PIXIE-like mission are expected to improve this bound by two orders of magnitude., Comment: 29+16 pages, 9 figures. V2 corresponds to the published version. Auxiliary material available on Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/record/6573347

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is on the table now as a new global energy-frontier accelerator laboratory taking data in the 2030s. The ILC addresses key questions for our current understanding of particle physics. It is based on a proven accelerator technology. Its experiments will challenge the Standard Model of particle physics and will provide a new window to look beyond it. This document brings the story of the ILC up to date, emphasizing its strong physics motivation, its readiness for construction, and the opportunity it presents to the US and the global particle physics community., Comment: 356 pages, Large pdf file (40 MB) submitted to Snowmass 2021; v2 references to Snowmass contributions added, additional authors; v3 references added, some updates, additional authors

We present a likelihood analysis of the general two Higgs doublet model, using the most important currently measured flavour observables, in view of the anomalies in charged current tree-level and neutral current one-loop rare decays of $B$ mesons in $b\to c l \overline{\nu}$ and $b\to s\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ transitions, respectively. We corroborate that the model explains the latter and it is able to simultaneously fit the experimental values of the $R(D)$ ratio at $1\sigma$, but it can not accommodate the $R(D^{*})$ and $F_{L}(D^{*})$ observables. We find that the fitted values for the angular observables in $b\to s\mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ transitions exhibit better agreement with the general two Higgs double model in comparison to the SM. We also make predictions for future collider observables $\mathrm{BR}(t\to ch)$, $\mathrm{BR}(h\to bs)$, $\mathrm{BR}(h\to \tau\mu)$, $\mathrm{BR}(B_{s}\rightarrow\tau^{+}\tau^{-})$, $\mathrm{BR}(B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}\tau^{+}\tau^{-})$ and the flavour violating decays of the $\tau$ lepton, $\mathrm{BR}(\tau\rightarrow3\mu)$ and $\mathrm{BR}(\tau\to\mu\gamma)$. The model predicts values of $\mathrm{BR}(t\to ch)$, $\mathrm{BR}(B_{s}\rightarrow\tau^{+}\tau^{-})$ and $\mathrm{BR}(B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}\tau^{+}\tau^{-})$ that are out of reach of future experiments, but its predictions for $\mathrm{BR}(h\to bs)$ and $\mathrm{BR}(h\to \tau\mu)$ are within the future sensitivity of the HL-LHC or the ILC. We also find that the predictions for the $\tau\rightarrow3\mu$ and $\tau\to\mu\gamma$ decays are well within the projected limits of the Belle II experiment. Finally, using the latest measurement of the Fermilab Muon $g-2$ Collaboration, we performed a simultaneous fit to $\Delta a_{\mu}$ constrained by the charged anomalies, finding solutions at the $1\sigma$ level. Once the neutral anomalies are included, however, a simultaneous explanation is unfeasible., Comment: 49 pages, 18 figures, new references, fixed typos

In this conference paper I introduce a selection of BSM tools and describe their most recent developments. I choose to focus on tools for the reinterpretation of LHC searches, tools that compute dark matter constraints, beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) inference tools, and tools that calculate amplitudes and cross sections directly from the Lagrangian., Comment: 11 pages

We introduce the GAMBIT Universal Model Machine (GUM), a tool for automatically generating code for the global fitting software framework GAMBIT, based on Lagrangian-level inputs. GUM accepts models written symbolically in FeynRules and SARAH formats, and can use either tool along with MadGraph and CalcHEP to generate GAMBIT model, collider, dark matter, decay and spectrum code, as well as GAMBIT interfaces to corresponding versions of SPheno, micrOMEGAs, Pythia and Vevacious (C++). In this paper we describe the features, methods, usage, pathways, assumptions and current limitations of GUM. We also give a fully worked example, consisting of the addition of a Majorana fermion simplified dark matter model with a scalar mediator to GAMBIT via GUM, and carry out a corresponding fit., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables

In this conference paper I present the first full global fit of a dark matter effective field theory with the global fitting framework GAMBIT. I show the results of exhaustive parameter space explorations of the effective dark matter model, including a general set of operators up to dimension 7, and using the most up-to-date constraints from direct and indirect detection of dark matter, relic abundance requirements and collider searches for dark matter candidates., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the 2021 QCD session of the 55th Rencontres de Moriond

We assess the status of a wide class of WIMP dark matter (DM) models in light of the latest experimental results using the global fitting framework $\textsf{GAMBIT}$. We perform a global analysis of effective field theory (EFT) operators describing the interactions between a gauge-singlet Dirac fermion and the Standard Model quarks, the gluons and the photon. In this bottom-up approach, we simultaneously vary the coefficients of 14 such operators up to dimension 7, along with the DM mass, the scale of new physics and several nuisance parameters. Our likelihood functions include the latest data from $\mathit{Planck}$, direct and indirect detection experiments, and the LHC. For DM masses below 100 GeV, we find that it is impossible to satisfy all constraints simultaneously while maintaining EFT validity at LHC energies. For new physics scales around 1 TeV, our results are influenced by several small excesses in the LHC data and depend on the prescription that we adopt to ensure EFT validity. Furthermore, we find large regions of viable parameter space where the EFT is valid and the relic density can be reproduced, implying that WIMPs can still account for the DM of the universe while being consistent with the latest data., Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables; v2: matches EPJC version

In this conference paper I present GAMBIT , the Global and Modular BSM Inference Tool. I describe the various components of GAMBIT , its modules and interfaces to external tools, as well as a brief summary of the most recent results. In addition I introduce for the first time GUM , the GAMBIT Universal Model Machine, a tool created to auto-generate GAMBIT code for any BSM model from the most popular Lagrangian-level tools, FeynRules and SARAH., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. To be published in the proceedings of "Tools for High Energy Physics and Cosmology - TOOLS2020", Lyon, France

Physical theories that depend on many parameters or are tested against data from many different experiments pose unique challenges to statistical inference. Many models in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology fall into one or both of these categories. These issues are often sidestepped with statistically unsound ad hoc methods, involving intersection of parameter intervals estimated by multiple experiments, and random or grid sampling of model parameters. Whilst these methods are easy to apply, they exhibit pathologies even in low-dimensional parameter spaces, and quickly become problematic to use and interpret in higher dimensions. In this article we give clear guidance for going beyond these procedures, suggesting where possible simple methods for performing statistically sound inference, and recommendations of readily-available software tools and standards that can assist in doing so. Our aim is to provide any physicists lacking comprehensive statistical training with recommendations for reaching correct scientific conclusions, with only a modest increase in analysis burden. Our examples can be reproduced with the code publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4322283., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. extended discussions. closely matches version accepted for publication

We determine the upper limit on the mass of the lightest neutrino from the most robust recent cosmological and terrestrial data. Marginalizing over possible effective relativistic degrees of freedom at early times ($N_\mathrm{eff}$) and assuming normal mass ordering, the mass of the lightest neutrino is less than 0.037 eV at 95% confidence; with inverted ordering, the bound is 0.042 eV. These results improve upon the strength and robustness of other recent limits and constrain the mass of the lightest neutrino to be barely larger than the largest mass splitting. We show the impacts of realistic mass models, and different sources of $N_\mathrm{eff}$., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures + Appendix. Full dataset available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4005381 (v3: Matches version published in PRD)

We introduce $\sf{CosmoBit}$, a module within the open-source $\sf{GAMBIT}$ software framework for exploring connections between cosmology and particle physics with joint global fits. $\sf{CosmoBit}$ provides a flexible framework for studying various scenarios beyond $\Lambda$CDM, such as models of inflation, modifications of the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, exotic energy injection from annihilating or decaying dark matter, and variations of the properties of elementary particles such as neutrino masses and the lifetime of the neutron. Many observables and likelihoods in $\sf{CosmoBit}$ are computed via interfaces to $\sf{AlterBBN}$, $\sf{CLASS}$, $\sf{DarkAges}$, $\sf{MontePython}$, $\sf{MultiModeCode}$, and $\sf{plc}$. This makes it possible to apply a wide range of constraints from large-scale structure, Type Ia supernovae, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background. Parameter scans can be performed using the many different statistical sampling algorithms available within the $\sf{GAMBIT}$ framework, and results can be combined with calculations from other $\sf{GAMBIT}$ modules focused on particle physics and dark matter. We include extensive validation plots and a first application to scenarios with non-standard relativistic degrees of freedom and neutrino temperature, showing that the corresponding constraint on the sum of neutrino masses is much weaker than in the standard scenario., Comment: 44 pages (including executive summary), 11 figures + appendices. Code available at https://github.com/GambitBSM/gambit_1.5 and all datasets available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3975642 . V3: minor revisions, matches published version

The excess of electron recoil events seen by the XENON1T experiment has been interpreted as a potential signal of axion-like particles (ALPs), either produced in the Sun, or constituting part of the dark matter halo of the Milky Way. It has also been explained as a consequence of trace amounts of tritium in the experiment. We consider the evidence for the solar and dark-matter ALP hypotheses from the combination of XENON1T data and multiple astrophysical probes, including horizontal branch stars, red giants, and white dwarfs. We briefly address the influence of ALP decays and supernova cooling. While the different datasets are in clear tension for the case of solar ALPs, all measurements can be simultaneously accommodated for the case of a sub-dominant fraction of dark-matter ALPs. Nevertheless, this solution requires the tuning of several a priori unknown parameters, such that for our choices of priors a Bayesian analysis shows no strong preference for the ALP interpretation of the XENON1T excess over the background hypothesis., Comment: 40 pages, 9 figures. V3 corresponds to the accepted manuscript; added appendices on the DIC and MC simulations; supplementary material now available on Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4384061

We report on the status of efforts to improve the reinterpretation of searches and measurements at the LHC in terms of models for new physics, in the context of the LHC Reinterpretation Forum. We detail current experimental offerings in direct searches for new particles, measurements, technical implementations and Open Data, and provide a set of recommendations for further improving the presentation of LHC results in order to better enable reinterpretation in the future. We also provide a brief description of existing software reinterpretation frameworks and recent global analyses of new physics that make use of the current data., Comment: 58 pages, minor revision following comments from SciPost referees

The extension of the Standard Model by right-handed neutrinos can not only explain the active neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism, it is also able solve a number of long standing problems in cosmology. Especially, masses below the TeV scale are of particular interest as they can lead to a plethora of signatures in experimental searches. We present the first full frequentist analysis of the extension of the Standard Model by three right-handed neutrinos, with masses between 60 MeV and 500 GeV, using the Global and Modular BSM (beyond the Standard Model) Inference Tool GAMBIT. Our analysis is based on the Casas-Ibarra parametrisation and includes a large range of experimental constraints: active neutrino mixing, indirect constraints from, e.g., electroweak precision observables and lepton universality, and numerous direct searches for right-handed neutrinos. To study their overall effect, we derive combined profile likelihood results for the phenomenologically most relevant parameter projections. Furthermore, we discuss the role of (marginally) statistically preferred regions in the parameter space. Finally, we explore the flavour mixing pattern of the three right-handed neutrinos for different values of the lightest neutrino mass. Our results comprise the most comprehensive assessment of the model with three right-handed neutrinos model below the TeV scale so far, and provide a robust ground for exploring the impact of future constraints or detections., Comment: 56 pages, 40 figures, 22 tables

Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) are one of the most interesting high-energy completions of the Standard Model, because they provide a rich, powerful and elegant group-theoretical framework able to resolve a variety of problems remaining in our current understanding of particle physics. They usually act as motivators for many low energy BSM theories, such as left-right symmetric or supersymmetric models, and they serve to fill the gap between the experimentally reachable low energies and the physics in the ultraviolet. In recent years, however, they have fallen slightly from the spotlight, in favour of `simplified' models with more specific phenomenological predictions. The aim of this review is to summarize the state of the art on GUTs and argue for their importance in modern physics. Recent advances in experiments permit to test the predictions of GUTs at different energy scales. First, as GUTs can play a role in the inflationary dynamics of the early Universe, their imprints could be found in the CMB observations by the Planck satellite. Remarkably enough, GUTs could manifest themselves also in terrestrial tests; several planned experiments aim to probe the proton stability and to establish order of magnitude higher bounds on its lifetime. Moreover, the predictions of specific GUT models could be tested even at the LHC thanks to its high energy reach, via searches for exotic states or additional contributions to flavour anomalies., Comment: 92 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables. Updated to match published version

We analyse the gravitational wave and low energy signatures of a Pati-Salam phase transition. For a Pati-Salam scale of $M_{PS} \sim 10^5$ GeV, we find a stochastic power spectrum within reach of the next generation of ground-based interferometer experiments such as the Einstein Telescope, in parts of the parameter space. We study the lifetime of the proton in this model, as well as complementarity with low energy constraints including electroweak precision data, neutrino mass measurements, lepton flavour violation, and collider constraints., Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures

Searches for supersymmetric electroweakinos have entered a crucial phase, as the integrated luminosity of the Large Hadron Collider is now high enough to compensate for their weak production cross-sections. Working in a framework where the neutralinos and charginos are the only light sparticles in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, we use gambit to perform a detailed likelihood analysis of the electroweakino sector. We focus on the impacts of recent ATLAS and CMS searches with 36 fb$^{-1}$ of 13 TeV proton-proton collision data. We also include constraints from LEP and invisible decays of the $Z$ and Higgs bosons. Under the background-only hypothesis, we show that current LHC searches do not robustly exclude any range of neutralino or chargino masses. However, a pattern of excesses in several LHC analyses points towards a possible signal, with neutralino masses of $(m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^0}, m_{\tilde{\chi}_2^0}, m_{\tilde{\chi}_3^0}, m_{\tilde{\chi}_4^0})$ = (8-155, 103-260, 130-473, 219-502) GeV and chargino masses of $(m_{\tilde{\chi}_1^{\pm}}, m_{\tilde{\chi}_2^{\pm}})$ = (104-259, 224-507) GeV at the 95% confidence level. The lightest neutralino is mostly bino, with a possible modest Higgsino or wino component. We find that this excess has a combined local significance of $3.3\sigma$, subject to a number of cautions. If one includes LHC searches for charginos and neutralinos conducted with 8 TeV proton-proton collision data, the local significance is lowered to 2.9$\sigma$. We briefly consider the implications for dark matter, finding that the correct relic density can be obtained through the Higgs-funnel and $Z$-funnel mechanisms, even assuming that all other sparticles are decoupled. All samples, gambit input files and best-fit models from this study are available on Zenodo., Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures, v3 is the version accepted by EPJC

We present global analyses of effective Higgs portal dark matter models in the frequentist and Bayesian statistical frameworks. Complementing earlier studies of the scalar Higgs portal, we use GAMBIT to determine the preferred mass and coupling ranges for models with vector, Majorana and Dirac fermion dark matter. We also assess the relative plausibility of all four models using Bayesian model comparison. Our analysis includes up-to-date likelihood functions for the dark matter relic density, invisible Higgs decays, and direct and indirect searches for weakly-interacting dark matter including the latest XENON1T data. We also account for important uncertainties arising from the local density and velocity distribution of dark matter, nuclear matrix elements relevant to direct detection, and Standard Model masses and couplings. In all Higgs portal models, we find parameter regions that can explain all of dark matter and give a good fit to all data. The case of vector dark matter requires the most tuning and is therefore slightly disfavoured from a Bayesian point of view. In the case of fermionic dark matter, we find a strong preference for including a CP-violating phase that allows suppression of constraints from direct detection experiments, with odds in favour of CP violation of the order of 100:1. Finally, we present DDCalc 2.0.0, a tool for calculating direct detection observables and likelihoods for arbitrary non-relativistic effective operators., Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures. v2 matches the published version

We present the GAMBIT modules SpecBit, DecayBit and PrecisionBit. Together they provide a new framework for linking publicly available spectrum generators, decay codes and other precision observable calculations in a physically and statistically consistent manner. This allows users to automatically run various combinations of existing codes as if they are a single package. The modular design allows software packages fulfilling the same role to be exchanged freely at runtime, with the results presented in a common format that can be easily passed to downstream dark matter, collider and flavour codes. These modules constitute an essential part of the broader GAMBIT framework, a major new software package for performing global fits. In this paper we present the observable calculations, data, and likelihood functions implemented in the three modules, as well as the conventions and assumptions used in interfacing them with external codes. We also present 3-BIT-HIT, a command-line utility for computing mass spectra, couplings, decays and precision observables in the MSSM, which shows how the three modules can be easily used independently of GAMBIT., Comment: 67 pages, 9 figures, updated to match version published in EPJC

We describe the open-source global fitting package GAMBIT: the Global And Modular Beyond-the-Standard-Model Inference Tool. GAMBIT combines extensive calculations of observables and likelihoods in particle and astroparticle physics with a hierarchical model database, advanced tools for automatically building analyses of essentially any model, a flexible and powerful system for interfacing to external codes, a suite of different statistical methods and parameter scanning algorithms, and a host of other utilities designed to make scans faster, safer and more easily-extendible than in the past. Here we give a detailed description of the framework, its design and motivation, and the current models and other specific components presently implemented in GAMBIT. Accompanying papers deal with individual modules and present first GAMBIT results. GAMBIT can be downloaded from gambit.hepforge.org., Comment: 84 pages, 8 Figures. Code available at http://gambit.hepforge.org. v2: Main paper now matches version accepted by EPJC. This version also adds an addendum submitted to EPJC on Mathematica support in GAMBIT v1.1

Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) are a very well motivated extensions of the Standard Model (SM), but the landscape of models and possibilities is overwhelming, and different patterns can lead to rather distinct phenomenologies. In this work we present a way to automatise the model building process, by considering a top to bottom approach that constructs viable and sensible theories from a small and controllable set of inputs at the high scale. By providing a GUT scale symmetry group and the field content, possible symmetry breaking paths are generated and checked for consistency, ensuring anomaly cancellation, SM embedding and gauge coupling unification. We emphasise the usefulness of this approach for the particular case of a non-supersymmetric SO(10) model with an intermediate left-right symmetry and we analyse how low-energy observables such as proton decay and lepton flavour violation might affect the generated model landscape., Comment: 36 pages, 6 figures

In this paper, we embed the model of flipped GUT sneutrino inflation -in a flipped SU(5) or SO(10) set up- developed by Ellis et al. in a supergravity framework. The GUT symmetry is broken by a waterfall which could happen at early or late stage of the inflationary period. The full field dynamics is thus studied in detail and these two main inflationary configurations are exposed, whose cosmological predictions are both in agreement with recent astrophysical measurements. The model has an interesting feature where the inflaton has natural decay channels to the MSSM particles allowed by the GUT gauge symmetry. Hence it can account for the reheating after the inflationary epoch., Comment: 17 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures, sections added, typos corrected

We analyse the prospects for constructing hybrid models of inflation that provide a dynamical realisation of the apparent closeness between the supersymmetric GUT scale and the possible scale of cosmological inflation. In the first place, we consider models based on the flipped SU(5)$\times$U(1) gauge group, which has no magnetic monopoles. In one model, the inflaton is identified with a sneutrino field, and in the other model it is a gauge singlet. In both cases we find regions of the model parameter spaces that are compatible with the experimental magnitudes of the scalar perturbations, $A_s$, and the tilt in the scalar perturbation spectrum, $n_s$, as well as with an indicative upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio, $r$. We also discuss embeddings of these models into SO(10), which is broken at a higher scale so that its monopoles are inflated away., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures

We propose a class of left-right symmetric models (LRSMs) with spontaneous D parity breaking, where SU(2)_R breaks at the TeV scale while discrete left-right symmetry breaks around 10^9 GeV. By embedding this framework in a non-supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theory (GUT) with Pati-Salam symmetry as the highest intermediate breaking step, we obtain g_R / g_L ~ 0.6 between the right- and left-handed gauge couplings at the TeV scale. This leads to a suppression of beyond the Standard Model phenomena induced by the right-handed gauge coupling. Here we focus specifically on the consequences for neutrinoless double beta decay, low energy lepton flavour violation and LHC signatures due to the suppressed right handed currents. Interestingly, the reduced g_R allows us to interpret an excess of events observed recently in the range of 1.9 TeV to 2.4 TeV by the CMS group at the LHC as the signature of a right handed gauge boson in LRSMs with spontaneous D parity breaking. Moreover, the reduced right-handed gauge coupling also strongly suppresses the non-standard contribution of heavy states to the neutrinoless double beta decay rate as well as the amplitude of low energy lepton flavour violating processes. In a dominant type-II Seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation, we find that both sets of observables provide stringent and complimentary bounds which make it challenging to observe the scenario at the LHC., Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures

We point out that the recent excess observed in searches for a right-handed gauge boson W_R at CMS can be explained in a left-right symmetric model with D parity violation. In a class of SO(10) models, in which D parity is broken at a high scale, the left-right gauge symmetry breaking scale is naturally small, and at a few TeV the gauge coupling constants satisfy g_R ~ 0.6 g_L. Such models therefore predict a right-handed charged gauge boson W_R in the TeV range with a suppressed gauge coupling as compared to the usually assumed manifest left-right symmetry case g_R = g_L. The recent CMS data show excess events which are consistent with the cross section predicted in the D parity breaking model for 1.9 TeV < M_{W_R} < 2.4 TeV. If the excess is confirmed, it would in general be a direct signal of new physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC. A TeV scale W_R would for example not only rule out SU(5) grand unified theory models. It would also imply B-L violation at the TeV scale, which would be the first evidence for baryon or lepton number violation in nature and it has strong implications on the generation of neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry in the Universe., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, matches published version

The non-observation of supersymmetric signatures in searches at the Large Hadron Collider strongly constrains minimal supersymmetric models like the CMSSM. We explore the consequences on the SUSY particle spectrum in a minimal SO(10) with large D-terms and non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale. This changes the sparticle spectrum in a testable way and for example can sufficiently split the coloured and non-coloured sectors. The splitting provided by use of the SO(10) D-terms can be exploited to obtain light first generation sleptons or third generation squarks, the latter corresponding to a compressed spectrum scenario., Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures, published version