Search

Many attempts have been made to observe the decay of the Higgs boson to a photon and an invisible massless dark photon. For this decay to be potentially observable at the LHC, new mediators that communicate between the Standard Model and the dark photon must exist. In this Letter, we study bounds on such mediators coming from the Higgs signal strengths, oblique parameters, electric dipole moment of the electron and unitarity. We find that the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to a photon and a dark photon is constrained to be far smaller than the sensitivity of current collider searches, thus calling for a reconsideration of current experimental efforts., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, matches published version

Particles beyond the Standard Model (SM) can generically have lifetimes that are long compared to SM particles at the weak scale. When produced at experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, these longlived particles (LLPs) can decay far from the interaction vertex of the primary proton–proton collision. Such LLP signatures are distinct from those of promptly decaying particles that are targeted by the majority of searches for new physics at the LHC, often requiring customized techniques to identify, for example, significantly displaced decay vertices, tracks with atypical properties, and short track segments. Given their non-standard nature, a comprehensive overview of LLP signatures at the LHC is beneficial to ensure that possible avenues of the discovery of new physics are not overlooked. Here we report on the joint work of a community of theorists and experimentalists with the ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb experiments—as well as those working on dedicated experiments such as MoEDAL, milliQan, MATHUSLA, CODEX-b, and FASER—to survey the current state of LLP searches at the LHC, and to chart a path for the development of LLP searches into the future, both in the upcoming Run 3 and at the high-luminosity LHC. The work is organized around the current and future potential capabilities of LHC experiments to generally discover new LLPs, and takes a signaturebased approach to surveying classes of models that give rise to LLPs rather than emphasizing any particular theory motivation. We develop a set of simplified models; assess the coverage of current searches; document known, often unexpected backgrounds; explore the capabilities of proposed detector upgrades; provide recommendations for the presentation of search results; and look towards the newest frontiers, namely high-multiplicity ‘dark showers’, highlighting opportunities for expanding the LHC reach for these signals.

We study the phenomenology of a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with an $R$-symmetry under which $R$-charges correspond to the baryon number. This identification allows for the presence in the superpotential of the $R$-parity violating term $\lambda''U^c D^c D^c$ without breaking baryon number, which loosens several bounds on this operator while changing considerably the phenomenology. However, the $R$-symmetry cannot remain exact as it is at least broken by anomaly mediation. Under these conditions, we investigate the constraints coming from baryon number violating processes and flavour physics and find that, in general, they are lessened. Additionally, we examine recent ATLAS and CMS experimental searches and use these to place limits on the parameter space of the model. This is done for both stop production, which now features both pair and resonant production, and pair production of the first two generations of squarks. Finally, we study the implications this model has on baryogenesis. We find that successful baryogenesis can potentially be achieved, but only at the cost of breaking the $R$-symmetry by a significant amount., Comment: 48 pages, 25 figures, references added

New confining sectors can contain a set of pseudo-Goldstone mesons that exhibit a complicated structure in terms of stability and relative masses. Stable ones can act as dark matter candidates, while their interactions with the unstable ones determine their relic abundances. The overall structure, by specifying which channels are kinematically forbidden or not, affects the cosmology, constraints and collider phenomenology. In this paper, we present a classification of these pseudo-Goldstone meson structures. We find that the structures can be classified into three categories, corresponding to strong, suppressed and essentially non-existent constraints from indirect detection. Limits on decay lengths of the unstable mesons and dark jet properties are presented for several benchmark models., 41 pages, 12 Figures, matches published version

It is a distinct possibility that a Hidden Valley sector would have a spectrum of light particles consisting of both stable and unstable dark mesons. The simultaneous presence of these two types of particles can lead to novel mechanisms for generating the correct dark matter relic abundance, which in turn can reflect themselves into new exotic signatures at colliders. We study the viability of such sectors for various Hidden Valley models and map the valid parameter space to possible collider signatures. Mediators studied include various scalar bifundamentals and a heavy $Z'$. It is shown that in general bounds from direct and indirect detection can easily be avoided. In most of the allowed parameter space, the relic density is determined by stable mesons annihilating to unstable ones which in turn decay quickly to Standard Model particles. Dark mesons that decay mainly to heavier Standard Model fermions allow for more valid parameter space, though dark mesons are still allowed to decay exclusively to some of the lighter fermions. Possible exotic collider signatures include displaced vertices, emerging jets and semivisible jets., 22 pages, 8 figures, matches published version

Many models of Beyond the Standard Model physics contain particles that are charged under both Standard Model and Hidden Valley gauge groups, yet very little effort has been put into establishing their experimental signatures. We provide a general overview of the collider phenomenology of spin 0 or 1/2 mediators with non-trivial gauge numbers under both the Standard Model and a single new confining group. Due to the possibility of many unconventional signatures, the focus is on direct production with semivisible jets. For the mediators to be able to decay, a global $U(1)$ symmetry must be broken. This is best done by introducing a set of operators explicitly violating this symmetry. We find that there is only a finite number of such renormalizable operators and that the phenomenology can be classified into five distinct categories. We show that large regions of the parameter space are already excluded, while others are unconstrained by current search strategies. We also discuss how searches could be modified to better probe these unconstrained regions by exploiting special properties of semivisible jets., 40 pages, 11 figures, published version

We study the experimental constraints on strongly interacting vector-fermions compatible with the relaxion mechanism and investigate any possible tuning. The focus is on a minimal model and low confinement scale. More precisely, we study bounds from electroweak precision tests, Higgs decay, Big Bang nucleosynthesis and direct collider searches. The effect of these new fermions on vacuum stability is also investigated. Combining our bounds, we show that the relaxion mechanism becomes increasingly constrained and fine-tuned as the confinement scale decreases. For example, a confinement scale of a few tens of MeVs would require tuning at the percent level., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures. References added. Matches published version

The Twin Higgs model seeks to address the little hierarchy problem by making the Higgs a pseudo-Goldstone of a global SU(4) symmetry that is spontaneously broken to SU(3). Gauge and Yukawa couplings, which explicitly break SU(4), enjoy a discrete ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ symmetry that accidentally maintains SU(4) at the quadratic level and therefore keeps the Higgs light. Contrary to most beyond the Standard Model theories, the quadratically divergent corrections to the Higgs mass are cancelled by a mirror sector, which is uncharged under the Standard Model groups. However, the Twin Higgs with an exact ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ symmetry leads to equal vevs in the Standard Model and mirror sectors, which is phenomenologically unviable. An explicit ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ breaking potential must then be introduced and tuned against the SU(4) breaking terms to produce a hierarchy of vevs between the two sectors. This leads to a moderate but non-negligible tuning. We propose a model to alleviate this tuning, without the need for an explicit ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ breaking sector. The model consists of two SU(4) fundamental Higgses, one whose vacuum preserves ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ and one whose vacuum breaks it. As the interactions between the two Higgses are turned on, the ℤ 2 $$ {\mathbb{Z}}_2 $$ breaking is transmitted from the broken to the unbroken sector and a small hierarchy of vevs is naturally produced. The presence of an effective tadpole and feedback between the two Higgses lead to a sizable improvement of the tuning. The resulting Higgs boson is naturally very Standard Model like.

Stringent experimental constraints have raised the lower limit on the masses of squarks to TeV levels, while compatibility with the mass of the Higgs boson provides an upper limit. This two-sided bound has lead to the emergence of Mini-Split theories where gauginos are not far removed from the electroweak scale while scalars are somewhat heavier. This small hierarchy modifies the spectrum of standard anomaly and gauge mediation, leading to Mini-Split deflected anomaly and gauge mediation models. In this paper, we study LHC constraints on these models and their prospects at LHC 14 and a 100 TeV collider. Current constraints on their parameter space come from ATLAS and CMS supersymmetry searches, the known mass of the Higgs boson, and the absence of a color-breaking vacuum. Prospects at LHC 14 and a 100 TeV collider are obtained from these same theoretical constraints in conjunction with background estimates. As would be expected from renormalization group effects, a slightly lighter third generation of squarks is assumed. Higgsinos have masses similar to those of the scalars and are at the origin of the deflection., Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, references added, LHC 14 results added, matched to journal version

Recent numerical simulations of gravitational collapse show that there exists a special foliation of the spacetime where matter and entropy accumulate directly on the inside of the horizon surface. In this foliation, the time coincides with the proper time of the asymptotic static observer (ASO) and for spherical symmetry, this corresponds to isotropic coordinates. In this gauge, the three-volume in the interior shrinks to zero and only the horizon area remains at the end of collapse. In a different foliation, matter and entropy accumulate in the volume. The entropy is however independent of the foliation. Black hole holography is therefore a mapping from an arbitrary foliation, where information resides in the volume, to the special ASO frame, where it resides directly on the horizon surface., Comment: Essay selected for honorable mention in the 2012 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition

We perform a numerical investigation of the thermodynamics during the collapse of a charged (complex) scalar field to a Reissner-Nordstr\"om (RN) black hole in isotropic coordinates. Numerical work on gravitational collapse in isotropic coordinates has recently shown that the negative of the total Lagrangian approaches the Helmholtz free energy F= E-TS of a Schwarzschild black hole at late times of the collapse (where E is the black hole mass, T the temperature and S the entropy). The relevant thermodynamic potential for the RN black hole is the Gibbs free energy G=E-TS-$\Phi_H$ Q where Q is the charge and $\Phi_H$ the electrostatic potential at the outer horizon. In charged collapse, there is a large outgoing matter wave which prevents the exterior from settling quickly to a static state. However, the interior region is not affected significantly by the wave. We find numerically that the interior contribution to the Gibbs free energy is entirely gravitational and accumulates in a thin shell just inside the horizon. The entropy is gravitational in origin and one observes dynamically that it resides on the horizon. We also compare the numerical value of the interior Lagrangian to the expected analytical value of the interior Gibbs free energy for different initial states and we find that they agree to within 10-13%. The two values are approaching each other so that their difference decreases with more evolution time., Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables. version to appear in JHEP

Numerical studies of gravitational collapse in isotropic coordinates have recently shown an interesting connection between the gravitational Lagrangian and black hole thermodynamics. A study of the actual spacetime was not the main focus of this work and in particular, the rich and interesting structure of the interior has not been investigated in much detail and remains largely unknown. We elucidate its features by performing a numerical study of the spacetime in isotropic coordinates during gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field. The most salient feature to emerge is the formation of a thin shell of matter just inside the apparent horizon. The energy density and Ricci scalar peak at the shell and there is a jump discontinuity in the extrinsic curvature across the apparent horizon, the hallmark that a thin shell is present in its vicinity. At late stages of the collapse, the spacetime consists of two vacuum regions separated by the thin shell. The interior is described by an interesting collapsing isotropic universe. It tends towards a vacuum (never reaches a perfect vacuum) and there is a slight inhomogeneity in the interior that plays a crucial role in the collapse process as the areal radius tends to zero. The spacetime evolves towards a curvature (physical) singularity in the interior, both a Weyl and Ricci singularity. In the exterior, our numerical results match closely the analytical form of the Schwarzschild metric in isotropic coordinates, providing a strong test of our numerical code., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures. version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

As experimental constraints on the parameter space of the MSSM and close variations thereof become stronger, the motivation to explore supersymmetric models that challenge some of the standard assumptions of the MSSM also become stronger. For example, models where the gauginos are Dirac instead of Majorana have recently received more attention. Beside allowing for a supersoft SUSY breaking mechanism where the gauginos only provide finite threshold corrections to scalar masses, the cross section for the production of a squark pairs is reduced. In addition, Dirac gauginos can be used to build models that possess a U(1)R symmetry. This symmetry can then be identified with a lepton number, leading to models that are quite different from conventional scenarios. The sneutrinos in these models can acquire a vev and give mass to the leptons and the down-type squark. The phenomenology is novel, combining signatures that are typical of R-parity violating scenarios with signatures arising from leptoquarks. Correspondingly the constraints from electroweak precision data are also different. In these models, one of the leptons mixes with gauginos and superpotential Yukawa couplings can contribute to EWPM at tree level. In addition, lepton universality is broken. In this paper we adapt the operators analysis of Han and Skiba [1] to include the relevant violation of lepton universality, and do a global fit of the model to electroweak precision data, including all relevant tree-level and loop-level effects. We obtain bounds on the vev of the sneutrino and on the superpotential couplings of the model., 18 pages, 6 figures, references added