Irreducible Background Research Articles

Gluon versus photon production of a 750 GeV diphoton resonance

The production mechanism of a 750 GeV diphoton resonance, either via gluon or photon fusion, can be probed by studying kinematic observables in the diphoton events. We perform a detector study of the two production modes of a hypothetical scalar or tensor diphoton resonance in order to characterize the features of the two scenarios. The nature of the resonance production can be determined from the jet multiplicity, the jet and diphoton rapidities, the rate of central pseudorapidity gaps, or the possible detection of forward protons from elastic photoproduction for events in the signal region. Kinematic distributions for both signals and expected irreducible diphoton background events are provided for comparison along with a study of observables useful for distinguishing the two scenarios at an integrated luminosity of 20 fb$^{-1}$. We find that decay photons from a 750 GeV scalar resonance have a preference for acceptance in the central detector barrel, while background events are more likely to give accepted photons in the detector end caps. This disfavors the interpretation of the large number of excess events found by the the Run-2 CMS diphoton search with one photon detected in the end cap as a wide spin-0 resonance signal. However, one expects more end cap photons in the case of spin-2 resonance.

Determination of the Higgs CP-mixing angle in the tau decay channels

The measurement of possible Higgs sector CP-violation in the tau decay channels at the LHC is investigated. A CP-violating effect would manifest itself in these decay modes in characteristic spin-spin correlations of the tau lepton pairs which can be accessed using the momenta and impact parameters of the charged tau decay particles. We examine a CP-sensitive observable for a 125 GeV Higgs boson resonance in the gluon fusion channel at the LHC. Furthermore, we consider the distribution of this observable for the irreducible Drell-Yan background. By splitting these events into two categories we obtain two different distributions which can be used for calibration purposes. Finally, we estimate the achievable precision of the scalar-pseudo-scalar mixing angle of the tau decay channel for Run II and the high luminosity run of the LHC.

First measurement of radioactive isotope production through cosmic-ray muon spallation in Super-Kamiokande IV

Cosmic-ray-muon spallation-induced radioactive isotopes with $\beta$ decays are one of the major backgrounds for solar, reactor, and supernova relic neutrino experiments. Unlike in scintillator, production yields for cosmogenic backgrounds in water have not been exclusively measured before, yet they are becoming more and more important in next generation neutrino experiments designed to search for rare signals. We have analyzed the low-energy trigger data collected at Super-Kamiokande-IV in order to determine the production rates of $^{12}$B, $^{12}$N, $^{16}$N, $^{11}$Be, $^9$Li, $^8$He, $^9$C, $^8$Li, $^8$B and $^{15}$C. These rates were extracted from fits to time differences between parent muons and subsequent daughter $\beta$'s by fixing the known isotope lifetimes. Since $^9$Li can fake an inverse-beta-decay reaction chain via a $\beta + n$ cascade decay, producing an irreducible background with detected energy up to a dozen MeV, a dedicated study is needed for evaluating its impact on future measurements; the application of a neutron tagging technique using correlated triggers was found to improve this $^9$Li measurement. The measured yields were generally found to be comparable with theoretical calculations, except the cases of the isotopes $^8$Li/$^8$B and $^9$Li.

Phenomenological analysis of Higgs boson production through gluon fusion in association with jets

We present a detailed phenomenological analysis of the production of a Standard Model Higgs boson in association with up to three jets. We consider the gluon fusion channel using an effective theory in the large top-quark mass limit. Higgs boson production in gluon fusion constitutes an irreducible background to the vector boson fusion (VBF) process; hence the precise knowledge of its characteristics is a prerequisite for any measurement in the VBF channel. The calculation is carried out at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD in a fully automated way by combining the two programs GoSam and Sherpa. We present numerical results for a large variety of observables for both standard cuts and VBF selection cuts. We find that for all jet multiplicities the NLO corrections are sizeable. This is particularly true in the presence of kinematic selections enhancing the VBF topology, which are based on vetoing additional jet activity. In this case, precise predictions for the background can be made using our calculation by taking the difference between the inclusive H+2 jets and the inclusive H+3 jets result.

Stormwater wetlands for the enhancement of environmental ecosystem services: case studies for two retrofit wetlands in Brisbane, Australia

Constructed stormwater wetlands are examples of ‘blue–green’ ecological engineering in the urban environment providing a range of ecosystem services. A study was undertaken in Brisbane, Australia to examine the enhancement of environmental ecosystem services in 2 retrofit wetlands. Originally concrete drainage channels in existing residential catchments, a series of wetlands and ponds were created i.e. green infrastructure in a brownfield setting. Boardwalks, pathways and interpretive signage were incorporated into the design.Golden Pond wetland was only 0.2% of the catchment whereas Bridgewater Creek – Bowie's Flat wetland was 0.4% of the catchment. The larger 0.8 ha Bridgewater Creek wetland had an overflow by-pass channel. Water quality (suspended solids and nutrients) and the diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates were monitored for 2–4 years after construction.During storm events suspended solids increased at Golden Pond due to resuspension from the high velocities in this small linear flow system. Resuspension was minimised at Bridgewater Creek due to the by-pass channel. During dry weather suspended solids in both wetlands increased due to resuspension from the activity of waterbirds. Both wetlands were effective in reducing nutrient concentrations especially NOx–N and PO4–P, attributed to biological uptake; but during dry periods NH4–N increased within the system. The concept of irreducible background concentrations in wetland systems is discussed.Open water and aquatic vegetation provided habitats for macroinvertebrates. Species richness increased by more than 50% in both stormwater wetlands, compared to the concrete drains.Wetland sizing and design are essential parameters for water quality improvement and biodiversity.

Modelling Z → ττ processes in ATLAS with τ-embedded Z → μμ data

This paper describes the concept, technical realisation and validation of a largely data-driven method to model events with $Z\rightarrow\tau\tau$ decays. In $Z\rightarrow\mu\mu$ events selected from proton--proton collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012, the $Z$ decay muons are replaced by $\tau$ leptons from simulated $Z\rightarrow\tau\tau$ decays at the level of reconstructed tracks and calorimeter cells. The $\tau$ lepton kinematics are derived from the kinematics of the original muons. Thus, only the well-understood decays of the $Z$ boson and $\tau$ leptons as well as the detector response to the $\tau$ decay products are obtained from simulation. All other aspects of the event, such as the $Z$ boson and jet kinematics as well as effects from multiple interactions, are given by the actual data. This so-called $\tau$-embedding method is particularly relevant for Higgs boson searches and analyses in $\tau\tau$ final states, where $Z\rightarrow\tau\tau$ decays constitute a large irreducible background that cannot be obtained directly from data control samples. In this paper, the relevant concepts are discussed based on the implementation used in the ATLAS Standard Model $H\rightarrow\tau\tau$ analysis of the full datataset recorded during 2011 and 2012.

Photon emission in neutral current interactions at the T2K experiment

We have applied a microscopic model for single photon emission in neutral current interactions on nucleons and nuclei to determine the number and distributions of such events at the Super-Kamiokande detector, for the flux and beam exposure of the T2K experiment in neutrino mode. These reactions represent an irreducible background in electron-(anti)neutrino appearance measurements aimed at a precise measurement of mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ and the $CP$ violating phase. We have obtained a total number of photon events that is twice larger than the one from the NEUT event generator (version 5.1.4.2) used in the analysis of T2K data. Detailed comparisons of energy and angular distributions for the $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar\nu_\mu$ fluxes have also been performed.

Modelling the flux distribution function of the extragalactic gamma-ray background from dark matter annihilation

The one-point function (i.e., the isotropic flux distribution) is a complementary method to (anisotropic) two-point correlations in searches for a gamma-ray dark matter annihilation signature. Using analytical models of structure formation and dark matter halo properties, we compute the gamma-ray flux distribution due to annihilations in extragalactic dark matter halos, as it would be observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Combining the central limit theorem and Monte Carlo sampling, we show that the flux distribution takes the form of a narrow Gaussian of `diffuse' light, with an `unresolved point source' power-law tail as a result of bright halos. We argue that this background due to dark matter constitutes an irreducible and significant background component for point-source annihilation searches with galaxy clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies, modifying the predicted signal-to-noise ratio. A study of astrophysical backgrounds to this signal reveals that the shape of the total gamma-ray flux distribution is very sensitive to the contribution of a dark matter component, allowing us to forecast promising one-point upper limits on the annihilation cross-section. We show that by using the flux distribution at only one energy bin, one can probe the canonical cross-section required for explaining the relic density, for dark matter of masses around tens of GeV.

Modelling the flux distribution function of the extragalactic gamma-ray background from dark matter annihilation

The one-point function (i.e., the isotropic flux distribution) is a complementary method to (anisotropic) two-point correlations in searches for a gamma-ray dark matter annihilation signature. Using analytical models of structure formation and dark matter halo properties, we compute the gamma-ray flux distribution due to annihilations in extragalactic dark matter halos, as it would be observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Combining the central limit theorem and Monte Carlo sampling, we show that the flux distribution takes the form of a narrow Gaussian of `diffuse' light, with an `unresolved point source' power-law tail as a result of bright halos. We argue that this background due to dark matter constitutes an irreducible and significant background component for point-source annihilation searches with galaxy clusters and dwarf spheroidal galaxies, modifying the predicted signal-to-noise ratio. A study of astrophysical backgrounds to this signal reveals that the shape of the total gamma-ray flux distribution is very sensitive to the contribution of a dark matter component, allowing us to forecast promising one-point upper limits on the annihilation cross-section. We show that by using the flux distribution at only one energy bin, one can probe the canonical cross-section required for explaining the relic density, for dark matter of masses around tens of GeV.

Modelling Z → ττ processes in ATLAS with τ-embeddedZ → μμ data

This paper describes the concept, technical realisation and validation of a largely data-driven method to model events with Z→ττ decays. In Z→μμ events selected from proton-proton collision data recorded at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2012, the Z decay muons are replaced by τ leptons from simulated Zarrowττ decays at the level of reconstructed tracks and calorimeter cells. The τ lepton kinematics are derived from the kinematics of the original muons. Thus, only the well-understood decays of the Z boson and τ leptons as well as the detector response to the τ decay products are obtained from simulation. All other aspects of the event, such as the Z boson and jet kinematics as well as effects from multiple interactions, are given by the actual data. This so-called τ-embedding method is particularly relevant for Higgs boson searches and analyses in ττ final states, where Zarrowττ decays constitute a large irreducible background that cannot be obtained directly from data control samples. In this paper, the relevant concepts are discussed based on the implementation used in the ATLAS Standard Model H→ττ analysis of the full datataset recorded during 2011 and 2012.

Angular distributions intt¯H(H→bb¯)reconstructed events at the LHC

The associated production of a Higgs boson and a top-quark pair, $t{\bar t} H$, in proton-proton collisions is addressed in this paper for a center of mass energy of 13TeV at the LHC. Dileptonic final states of $t{\bar t}H$ events with two oppositely charged leptons and four jets from the decays $t\rightarrow bW^+ \rightarrow b \ell^+\nu_\ell$, $\bar{t}\rightarrow \bar{b}W^- \rightarrow \bar{b} \ell^-\bar{\nu}_\ell$ and $h\rightarrow b\bar{b}$, are used. Signal events, generated with MadGraph5_aMC@NLO, are fully reconstructed by applying a kinematic fit. New angular distributions of the decay products as well as angular asymmetries are explored in order to improve discrimination of $t{\bar t} H$ signal events over the dominant irreducible background contribution, $t{\bar t}b{\bar b}$. Even after the full kinematic fit reconstruction of the events, the proposed angular distributions and asymmetries are still quite different in the $t\bar{t}H$ signal and the dominant background ($t\bar{t}b\bar{b}$).

Exotic leptons at future linear colliders

Doubly charged excited leptons give rise to interesting signatures for physics beyond the standard model at the present Large Hadron Collider. These exotic states are introduced in extended isospin multiplets which couple to the ordinary leptons and quarks either with gauge or contact effective interactions or a combination of both. In this paper we study the production and the corresponding signatures of doubly charged leptons at the forthcoming linear colliders and we focus on the electron-electron beam setting. In the framework of gauge interactions, the interference between the $t$ and $u$ channel is evaluated that has been neglected so far. A pure leptonic final state is considered ($e^{-} \, e^{-} \rightarrow e^{-} \, e^{-} \, \nu_{e} \, \bar{\nu}_{e}$) that experimentally translates into a like-sign dilepton and missing transverse energy signature. We focus on the standard model irreducible background and we study the invariant like-sign dilepton mass distribution for both the signal and background processes. Finally, we provide the 3 and 5-sigma statistical significance exclusion curves in the model parameter space. We find that for a doubly charged lepton mass $m^*\approx 2 $ TeV the expected lower bound on the compositeness scale at CLIC, $\Lambda > 25$ TeV, is much stronger than the current lower bound from LHC ($\Lambda > 5$ TeV) and remains highly competitive with the bounds expected from the run II of the LHC.

Double Higgs boson production in the4τchannel from resonances in longitudinal vector boson scattering at a 100 TeV collider

We discuss the sensitivity of a 100 TeV $pp$ collider to heavy resonances produced in longitudinal vector boson scattering and decaying to a pair of Higgs bosons. A Monte Carlo study has been performed using the $H \to \tau \tau$ decay channel for both Higgs bosons, comparing the kinematics of such a signal to the irreducible Standard Model backgrounds. The results are presented in the context of a phenomenological model of a resonance ($\eta$) coupling to goldstone modes, $V_L V_L \to \eta \to HH$, as can arise in composite Higgs models. With a fractional width of 70% (20%), the $5 \sigma$ discovery reach is 4.2 (2.9) TeV in resonance mass for 10 ab$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. We also discuss the dependence of the mass reach on the collider energy and integrated luminosity.

Hadroproduction of t–anti-t pair with two isolated photons with PowHel

We simulate the hadroproduction of a tt¯ pair in association with two isolated hard photons at 13 TeV LHC using the PowHel package. We use the generated events, stored according to the Les-Houches event format, to make predictions for differential distributions formally at the next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy. We present predictions at the hadron level employing the cone-type isolation of the photons used by experiments. We also compare the kinematic distributions to the same distributions obtained in the tt¯H final state when the Higgs-boson decays into a photon pair, to which the process discussed here is an irreducible background.

The past and future of light dark matter direct detection

We review the status and future of direct searches for light dark matter. We start by answering the question: "Whatever happened to the light dark matter anomalies?" i.e. the fate of the potential dark matter signals observed by the CoGeNT, CRESST-II, CDMS-Si and DAMA/LIBRA experiments. We discuss how the excess events in the first two of these experiments have been explained by previously underestimated backgrounds. For DAMA, we summarize the progress and future of mundane explanations for the annual modulation reported in its event rate. Concerning the future of direct detection, we focus on the irreducible background from solar neutrinos. We explain broadly how it will affect future searches and summarize efforts to mitigate its effects.

Irreducible background and interference effects for Higgs-boson production in association with a top-quark pair

We present an analysis of Higgs-boson production in association with a top-quark pair at the LHC investigating in particular the final state consisting of four b jets, two jets, one identified charged lepton and missing energy. We consider the Standard Model prediction in three scenarios, the resonant Higgs-boson plus top-quark-pair production, the resonant production of a top-quark pair in association with a b-jet pair and the full process including all non-resonant and interference contributions. By comparing these scenarios we examine the irreducible background for the production rate and several kinematical distributions. With standard selection criteria the irreducible background turns out to be three times as large as the signal. For most observables we find a uniform deviation of eight percent between the scenario requiring two resonant top quarks and the full process. In particular phase-space regions the non-resonant contributions cause larger effects, and we observe shape changes for some distributions. Furthermore we investigate interference effects and find that neglecting interference contributions results in an over-estimate of the total cross-section of five percent.

Improving the sensitivity of gamma-ray telescopes to dark matter annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

The Fermi-LAT collaboration has studied the gamma-ray emission from a stacked population of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and used this information to set constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section. Interestingly, their analysis uncovered an excess with a test statistic (TS) of 8.7. If interpreted naively, this constitutes a 2.95 sigma local excess (p-value=0.003), relative to the expectations of their background model. In order to further test this interpretation, the Fermi-LAT team studied a large number of blank sky locations and found TS>8.7 excesses to be more common than predicted by their background model, decreasing the significance of their dwarf excess to 2.2 sigma (p-value=0.027). We argue that these TS>8.7 blank sky locations are largely the result of unresolved blazars, radio galaxies, and starforming galaxies, and show that multi-wavelength information can be used to reduce the degree to which such sources contaminate the otherwise blank sky. In particular, we show that masking regions of the sky that lie within 1 degree of sources contained in the BZCAT or CRATES catalogs reduces the fraction of blank sky locations with TS>8.7 by more than a factor of two. Taking such multi-wavelength information into account can enable experiments such as Fermi to better characterize their backgrounds and increase their sensitivity to dark matter in dwarf galaxies, the most important of which remain largely uncontaminated by unresolved point sources. We also note that for the range of dark matter masses and annihilation cross sections currently being tested by studies of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, simulations predict that Fermi should be able to detect a significant number of dark matter subhalos. These subhalos constitute a population of sub-threshold gamma-ray point sources and represent an irreducible background for searches for dark matter annihilation in dwarf galaxies.

Dark matter vs. neutrinos: the effect of astrophysical uncertainties and timing information on the neutrino floor

Future multi-tonne Direct Detection experiments will be sensitive to solar neutrino induced nuclear recoils which form an irreducible background to light Dark Matter searches. Indeed for masses around 6 GeV the spectra of neutrinos and Dark Matter are so similar that experiments are said to run into a neutrino floor, for which sensitivity increases only marginally with exposure past a certain cross section. In this work we show that this floor can be overcome using the different annual modulation expected from solar neutrinos and Dark Matter. Specifically for cross sections below the neutrino floor the DM signal is observable through a phase shift and a smaller amplitude for the time-dependent event rate. This allows the exclusion power to be improved by up to an order of magnitude for large exposures. In addition we demonstrate that, using only spectral information, the neutrino floor exists over a wider mass range than has been previously shown, since the large uncertainties in the Dark Matter velocity distribution make the signal spectrum harder to distinguish from the neutrino background. However for most velocity distributions it can still be surpassed using timing information, and so the neutrino floor is not an absolute limit on the sensitivity of Direct Detection experiments.

Prospects for dark matter searches in the pMSSM

We investigate the prospects for detection of neutralino dark matter in the 19-parameter phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM). We explore very wide ranges of the pMSSM parameters but pay particular attention to the higgsino-like neutralino at the ~ 1 TeV scale, which has been shown to be a well motivated solution in many constrained supersymmetric models, as well as to a wino-dominated solution with the mass in the range of 2-3 TeV. After summarising the present bounds on the parameter space from direct and indirect detection experiments, we focus on prospects for detection of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). To this end, we derive a realistic assessment of the sensitivity of CTA to photon fluxes from dark matter annihilation by means of a binned likelihood analysis for the Einasto and Navarro-Frenk-White halo profiles. We use the most up to date instrument response functions and background simulation model provided by the CTA Collaboration. We find that, with 500 hours of observation, under the Einasto profile CTA is bound to exclude at the 95% C.L. almost all of the ~ 1 TeV higgsino region of the pMSSM, effectively closing the window for heavy supersymmetric dark matter in many realistic models. CTA will be able to probe the vast majority of cases corresponding to a spin-independent scattering cross section below the reach of 1-tonne underground detector searches for dark matter, in fact even well below the irreducible neutrino background for direct detection. On the other hand, many points lying beyond the sensitivity of CTA will be within the reach of 1-tonne detectors, and some within collider reach. Altogether, CTA will provide a highly sensitive way of searching for dark matter that will be partially overlapping and partially complementary with 1-tonne detector and collider searches, thus being instrumental to effectively explore the nearly full parameter space of the pMSSM.

Comparing readout strategies to directly detect dark matter

Over the past decades, several ideas and technologies have been developed to directly detect WIMP from the galactic halo. All these detection strategies share the common goal of discriminating a WIMP signal from the residual backgrounds. By directly detecting WIMPs, one can measure some or all of the observables associated to each nuclear recoil candidates, such as their energy and direction. In this study, we compare and examine the discovery potentials of each readout strategies from counting only (bubble chambers) to directional detectors (Time Projection Chambers) with 1d-, 2d-, and 3d-sensitivity. Using a profile likelihood analysis, we show that, in the case of a large and irreducible background contamination characterized by an energy distribution similar to the expected WIMP signal, directional information can improve the sensitivity of the experiment by several orders of magnitude. We also found that 1d directional detection is only less effective than a full 3d directional sensitivity by about a factor of 3, or 10 if we assume no sense recognition, still improving by a factor of 2 or more if only the energy of the events is being measured.