MSSM Scenarios Research Articles

Sensitivity to BSM effects in the Higgs pT spectrum within SMEFT

The study of Higgs boson production at large transverse momentum is one of the new frontiers for the LHC Higgs physics programme. This paper considers boosted Higgs production in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT). We focus on the gluon fusion and t overline{t} H production processes and study the effects of three dimension-6 operators: the top Yukawa operator, the gluon-Higgs effective coupling and the chromomagnetic dipole operator of the top quark. We perform a detailed study of the sensitivity of current and future LHC data to the corresponding Wilson coefficients, consistently accounting for their renormalisation group evolution. We compare the sensitivities obtained with only linear and linear + quadratic terms in the SMEFT by using the spectrum shape and the addition of the Higgs signal yields. We also consider fits of pT spectra in models with heavy-top partners and in MSSM scenarios with a light scalar top and study the validity of the SMEFT assumptions as a function of the new-particle masses and the Higgs pT range. Finally, we extract constraints on the Wilson coefficients for gluon fusion from a simultaneous fit to the ATLAS and CMS data and compare our results with those obtained in global SMEFT analyses.

LHC limits on gluinos and squarks in the minimal Dirac gaugino model

Dirac gauginos are a well-motivated extension of the MSSM, leading to interesting phenomenological consequences. At the LHC, gluino-pair production is enhanced while squark production is suppressed as compared to the MSSM, and the decay signatures are altered by a more complex chargino and neutralino spectrum. We investigate how this impacts current gluino and squark mass limits from Run 2 of the LHC. Concretely, we compare different assumptions about the electroweak-ino spectrum through four benchmark models paying particular attention to the effect of the trilinear λS coupling, which induces a mass splitting between the mostly bino/U(1) adjoint states. Among other results, we show that for large λS the additional {tilde{chi}}_2^0to foverline{f}{tilde{chi}}_1^0 decays somewhat weaken the limits on gluinos (squarks) in case of heavy squarks (gluinos). Moreover, we compare the limits in the gluino vs. squark mass plane to those obtained in equivalent MSSM scenarios.

Supersymmetry, direct and indirect constraints

We present an overview of direct and indirect constraints in the MSSM, in CP-conserving and CP-violating MSSM scenarios, with some emphasis on the importance of combining the constraints from different sectors, namely SUSY and Higgs direct searches at the LHC, flavour physics, dark matter detection and electric dipole moments.

Search for beyond the standard model Higgs bosons decaying into a mathrm{b}overline{mathrm{b}} pair in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=13 TeV

A search for Higgs bosons that decay into a bottom quark-antiquark pair and are accompanied by at least one additional bottom quark is performed with the CMS detector. The data analyzed were recorded in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s}=13 TeV at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.7 fb−1. The final state considered in this analysis is particularly sensitive to signatures of a Higgs sector beyond the standard model, as predicted in the generic class of two Higgs doublet models (2HDMs). No signal above the standard model background expectation is observed. Stringent upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction are set for Higgs bosons with masses up to 1300 GeV. The results are interpreted within several MSSM and 2HDM scenarios.

Search strategies for pair production of heavy Higgs bosons decaying invisibly at the LHC

The search for heavy Higgs bosons at the LHC represents an intense experimental program, carried out by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations, which includes the hunt for invisible Higgs decays and dark matter candidates. No significant deviations from the SM backgrounds have been observed in any of these searches, imposing significant constraints on the parameter space of different new physics models with an extended Higgs sector. Here we discuss an alternative search strategy for heavy Higgs bosons decaying invisibly at the LHC, focusing on the pair production of a heavy scalar H together with a pseudoscalar A, through the production mode qq¯→Z⁎→HA. We identify as the most promising signal the final state made up of 4b+ETmiss, coming from the heavy scalar decay mode H→hh→bb¯bb¯, with h being the discovered SM-like Higgs boson with mh=125GeV, together with the invisible channel of the pseudoscalar. We work within the context of simplified MSSM scenarios that contain quite heavy sfermions of most types with O(10)TeV masses, while the stops are heavy enough to reproduce the 125 GeV mass for the lightest SM-like Higgs boson. By contrast, the gauginos/higgsinos and the heavy MSSM Higgs bosons have masses near the EW scale. Our search strategies, for a LHC center-of-mass energy of s=14TeV, allow us to obtain statistical significances of the signal over the SM backgrounds with values up to ∼1.6σ and ∼3σ, for total integrated luminosities of 300fb−1 and 1000fb−1, respectively.

Heavy supersymmetry with m h = 125 GeV in the effective field theory approach

After the Higgs boson discovery at the LHC with the mass 125 GeV a number of MSSM scenarios has been proposed to separate suitable domains of the parameter space. In the framework of two scenarios we demostrate possible reduction of multidimentional MSSM parameter space and analyse precise restrictions imposed on it.

Improved determination of the Higgs mass in the MSSM with heavy superpartners

We present several advances in the effective field theory calculation of the Higgs mass in MSSM scenarios with heavy superparticles. In particular, we compute the dominant two-loop threshold corrections to the quartic Higgs coupling for generic values of the relevant SUSY-breaking parameters, including all contributions controlled by the strong gauge coupling and by the third-family Yukawa couplings. We also study the effects of a representative subset of dimension-six operators in the effective theory valid below the SUSY scale. Our results will allow for an improved determination of the Higgs mass and of the associated theoretical uncertainty.

NLO-QCD corrections to Higgs pair production in the MSSM

We take a step towards a complete NLO-QCD determination of the production of a pair of Higgs scalars in the MSSM. Exploiting a low-energy theorem that connects the Higgs-gluon interactions to the derivatives of the gluon self-energy, we obtain analytic results for the one- and two-loop squark contributions to Higgs pair production in the limit of vanishing external momenta. We find that the two-loop squark contributions can have non-negligible effects in MSSM scenarios with stop masses below the TeV scale. We also show how our results can be adapted to the case of Higgs pair production in the NMSSM.

Stop decay with LSP gravitino in the final state: $$\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow \,\widetilde{G}\,W\,b$$ t ~ 1 → G ~ W b

In MSSM scenarios where the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP), and therefore a viable dark matter candidate, the stop $\tilde{t}_1$ could be the next-to-lightest superpartner (NLSP). For a mass spectrum satisfying: $m_{\widetilde{G}}+m_t>m_{\tilde{t}_1}>m_{\widetilde{G}}+m_b+m_W$, the stop decay is dominated by the 3-body mode $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow b\,W\,\tilde{G}$. We calculate the stop life-time, including the full contributions from top, sbottom and chargino as intermediate states. We also evaluate the stop lifetime for the case when the gravitino can be approximated by the goldstino state. Our analytical results are conveniently expressed using an expansion in terms of the intermediate state mass, which helps to identify the massless limit. In the region of low gravitino mass ($m_{\widetilde{G}}\ll m_{\tilde{t}_1}$) the results obtained using the gravitino and goldstino cases turns out to be similar, as expected. However for higher gravitino masses $m_{\widetilde{G}} \lesssim m_{\tilde{t}_1}$ the results for the lifetime could show a difference of O(100)\%.

Relic density of wino-like dark matter in the MSSM

The relic density of TeV-scale wino-like neutralino dark matter in the MSSM is subject to potentially large corrections as a result of the Sommerfeld effect. A recently developed framework enables us to calculate the Sommerfeld-enhanced relic density in general MSSM scenarios, properly treating mixed states and multiple co-annihilating channels as well as including off-diagonal contributions. Using this framework, including on-shell one-loop mass splittings and running couplings and taking into account the latest experimental constraints, we perform a thorough study of the regions of parameter space surrounding the well known pure-wino scenario: namely the effect of sfermion masses being non-decoupled and of allowing non-negligible Higgsino or bino components in the lightest neutralino. We further perform an investigation into the effect of thermal corrections and show that these can safely be neglected. The results reveal a number of phenomenologically interesting but so far unexplored regions where the Sommerfeld effect is sizeable. We find, in particular, that the relic density can agree with experiment for dominantly wino neutralino dark matter with masses ranging from 1.7 to beyond 4 TeV. In light of these results the bounds from Indirect Detection on wino-like dark matter should be revisited.

GravitinoPack and decays of supersymmetric metastable particles

We present the package GravitinoPack that calculates the two- and three-body decays of unstable supersymmetric particles involving the gravitino in the final or initial state. In a previous paper, we already showed results for the gravitino decaying into two and three particles. In this paper, we incorporate the processes where an unstable neutralino, stau or stop decays into a gravitino and Standard Model particles. This is the case in gravitino dark matter supersymmetric models, where the gravitino is the lightest SUSY particle. We give instructions for the installation and the use of the package. In the numerical analysis, we discuss various MSSM scenarios. We show that the calculation of all the decay channels and the three-body decay branching ratios is essential for the accurate application of cosmological bounds on these models. Program summaryProgram title: GravitinoPackCatalogue identifier: AEZL_v1_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEZL_v1_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 97708No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1217167Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran 77 and C for the MathLink.Computer: Workstation, PC, Mac.Operating system: Linux, Mac OSX.Classification: 11.1.Nature of problem: If Supersymmetry (SUSY) is realized in nature, each Standard Model (SM) particle is accompanied by its superpartner. The gravitino, the spin 3/2 superpartner of the graviton, belongs to the spectrum of the most important supersymmetric models. The gravitino can be the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP), in the so-called gravitino Dark Matter (DM) models. Thus, the Next to the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (NLSP) is long-lived, since it decays gravitationally to the LSP (gravitino) and SM particles. Such decays produce electromagnetic energy and hadrons which can affect the primordial Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) predictions for the abundance of the light nuclei. Similarly, when the gravitino is not the LSP it decays into the LSP which can be another SUSY particle, like the neutralino, and SM particles. GravitinoPack provides important results on all these decays, making the application of the BBN data more accurate.Solution method: GravitinoPack is a package for the evaluation of processes with gravitino interaction. The version GravitinoPack1.0 includes all two-body decays of the gravitino and all three-body decays of the gravitino to a neutralino and a pair of two particles. In the case that the gravitino is the LSP all two- and three-body decays of the lightest neutralino, the light stop or stau NLSP are included. GravitinoPack works at Fortran77 level and has a Mathematica interface.Unusual features: MathLink works properly only up to version Mathematica 9. There is still a conflict between Mathematica 10 and the used integration routine CUBA.Running time: All two-body decay widths are calculated in a time far below one second. The three-body decay calculations can be fast, especially the stop and stau decays, or slow with times up to a few minutes, especially when the phase space becomes large and no approximation is chosen.

Sbottom discovery via mixed decays at the LHC

In the search for bottom squark (sbottom) in SUSY at the LHC, the common practice has been to assume a $100\%$ decay branching fraction for a given search channel. In realistic MSSM scenarios, there are often more than one significant decay modes to be present, which significantly weaken the current sbottom search limits at the LHC. On the other hand, the combination of the multiple decay modes offers alternative discovery channels for sbottom searches. In this paper, we present the sbottom decays in a few representative mass parameter scenarios. We then analyze the sbottom signal for the pair production in QCD with one sbottom decaying via $\tilde{b}\rightarrow b \chi_1^0,\ b \chi_2^0$, and the other one decaying via $\tilde{b} \rightarrow t \chi_1^\pm$. With the gaugino subsequent decaying to gauge bosons or a Higgs boson $\chi_2^0 \rightarrow Z \chi_1^0,\ h \chi_1^0$ and $\chi_1^\pm \rightarrow W^\pm \chi_1^0$, we study the reach of those signals at the 14 TeV LHC with 300 ${\rm fb^{-1}}$ integrated luminosity. For a left-handed bottom squark, we find that a mass up to 920 GeV can be discovered at 5$\sigma$ significance for 250 GeV $< m_{\chi_1^0} <$ 350 GeV, or excluded up to 1050 GeV at the 95\% confidence level for the $h$ channel ($\mu>0$); similarly, it can be discovered up to 840 GeV, or excluded up to 900 GeV at the 95\% confidence level for the $Z$ channel ($\mu<0$). The sbottom and stop signals in the same SUSY parameter scenario are combined to obtain the optimal sensitivity, which is about 150 GeV better than the individual reach of the sbottom or stop. For a right-handed bottom squark with $\tilde{b} \tilde{b}^* \rightarrow b \chi_1^0,\ t \chi_1^\pm$ channel, we find that the sbottom mass up to 880 GeV can be discovered at 5$\sigma$ significance, or excluded up to 1060 GeV at the 95\% confidence level.

Light charged Higgs bosons to AW/HW via top decay

While current ATLAS and CMS measurements exclude a light charged Higgs ($m_{H^\pm}<160$ GeV) for most of the parameter region in the context of the MSSM scenarios, these bounds are significantly weakened in the Type II 2HDM once the exotic decay channel into a lighter neutral Higgs, $H^\pm \to AW/HW$, is open. In this study, we examine the possibility of a light charged Higgs produced in top decay via single top or top pair production, with the subsequent decay $H^\pm \rightarrow AW/HW$, which can reach a sizable branching fraction at low $\tan\beta$ once it is kinematically permitted. With a detailed collider analysis, we obtain exclusion and discovery bounds for the 14 TeV LHC assuming the existence of a 70 GeV neutral scalar. Assuming ${\rm BR}(H^\pm \rightarrow AW/HW)=100\%$ and ${\rm BR}(A/H \rightarrow \tau\tau)=8.6\%$, the 95% exclusion limits on ${\rm BR}(t \rightarrow H^+ b)$ are about 0.2% and 0.03% for single top and top pair production respectively, with an integrated luminosity of 300 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$. The discovery reaches are about 3 times higher. In the context of the Type II 2HDM, discovery is possible at both large $\tan\beta > 17$ for 155 GeV $< m_{H^\pm} <$ 165 GeV, and small $\tan\beta < 6$ over the entire mass range. Exclusion is possible in the entire $\tan\beta$ versus $m_{H^\pm}$ plane except for charged Higgs masses close to the top threshold. The exotic decay channel $H^\pm \to AW/HW$ is therefore complementary to the conventional $H^\pm \rightarrow \tau\nu$ channel.

Supersymmetric dark matter after LHC run 1.

Different mechanisms operate in various regions of the MSSM parameter space to bring the relic density of the lightest neutralino, tilde{chi }^0_{1}, assumed here to be the lightest SUSY particle (LSP) and thus the dark matter (DM) particle, into the range allowed by astrophysics and cosmology. These mechanisms include coannihilation with some nearly degenerate next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle such as the lighter stau tilde{tau }_{1}, stop tilde{t}_{1} or chargino tilde{chi }^pm _{1}, resonant annihilation via direct-channel heavy Higgs bosons H / A, the light Higgs boson h or the Z boson, and enhanced annihilation via a larger Higgsino component of the LSP in the focus-point region. These mechanisms typically select lower-dimensional subspaces in MSSM scenarios such as the CMSSM, NUHM1, NUHM2, and pMSSM10. We analyze how future LHC and direct DM searches can complement each other in the exploration of the different DM mechanisms within these scenarios. We find that the {tilde{tau }_1} coannihilation regions of the CMSSM, NUHM1, NUHM2 can largely be explored at the LHC via searches for / !!!! E_T events and long-lived charged particles, whereas their H / A funnel, focus-point and tilde{chi }^pm _{1} coannihilation regions can largely be explored by the LZ and Darwin DM direct detection experiments. We find that the dominant DM mechanism in our pMSSM10 analysis is tilde{chi }^pm _{1} coannihilation: parts of its parameter space can be explored by the LHC, and a larger portion by future direct DM searches.

Explaining the CMS dilepton mass endpoint in the NMSSM

NMSSM scenarios are investigated to explain an excess in the opposite-sign dilepton mass distribution in events with dilepton, jets and missing transverse energy reported by the CMS experiment. We show that the NMSSM scenarios can possess unique features to explain this excess, and can be distinguished from the MSSM scenarios in the ongoing LHC runs as well as direct detection experiments.

Higgs production in neutralino decays in the MSSM

The search for the production of weakly-interacting SUSY particles at the LHC is crucial for testing supersymmetry in relation to dark matter. Decays of neutralinos into Higgs bosons occur over some significant part of the SUSY parameter space and represent the most important source of $h$ boson production in SUSY decay chains in the MSSM. We study h production in neutralino decays using scans of the phenomenological MSSM. Whilst in constrained MSSM scenarios the decay chi^0_2 -> h chi^0_1 is the dominant channel, this does not hold in more general MSSM scenarios. On the other hand, the chi^0_2,3 -> h chi^0_1 decays remain important and are highly complementary to multi-lepton final states in the LHC searches. The perspectives for the LHC analyses at 8 and 14 TeV as well as the reach of an e+e- collider at 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 3 TeV are discussed.

Transverse momentum resummation for Higgs production via gluon fusion in the MSSM

The resummed transverse momentum distribution of supersymmetric Higgs bosons produced through gluon fusion at NLO+NLL is presented, including the exact quark and squark mass dependences. Considering various MSSM scenarios, we compare our results to previous ones within the POWHEG approach. We analyze the impact of the bottom loop which becomes the dominant contribution to the gluon fusion cross section for a wide range of the parameter space for the pseudo-scalar and heavy Higgs.

Automated third generation squark production to next-to-leading order

If light--flavor squarks and gluinos are indeed heavy and chargino pair production is plagued with overwhelming backgrounds, pair production and associated production of stops and charginos will become the key signatures in the upcoming LHC runs. We present fully automated next-to-leading order predictions for heavy flavor squark production at the LHC, including stop-chargino associated production, based on MadGolem. We compute the total and differential NLO rates for a variety of MSSM scenarios with a light third generation. We focus on theoretical uncertainties on differential rates, including a comparison to multi-jet merging and the impact of bottom parton densities for stop-chargino associated production. We find that for the associated production channel the rates can reach tens of femtobarns, but the scale dependence does not provide a conservative estimate of the theoretical uncertainties.

Supersymmetry with light dark matter confronting the recent CDMS and LHC results

We revisit MSSM scenarios with light neutralino as a dark matter candidate in view of the latest LHC and dark matter direct and indirect detection experiments. We show that scenarios with a very light neutralino (~ 10 GeV) and a scalar bottom quark close in mass, can satisfy all the available constraints from LEP, Tevatron, LHC, flavour and low energy experiments and provide solutions in agreement with the bulk of dark matter direct detection experiments, and in particular with the recent CDMS results.

Implications of the 98 GeV and 125 GeV Higgs scenarios in nondecoupling supersymmetry with updated ATLAS, CMS, and PLANCK data

We discuss both MSSM and NMSSM scenarios in which the lightest Higgs boson with $m_h=98$~GeV is consistent with the small excess ($\sim 2.3 \sigma$) observed at the LEP in $e^+ e^-\rightarrow Zh$, with $h \rightarrow b {\bar b}$ process and the heavier Higgs boson of mass close to 125~GeV as the observed candidate of the SM Higgs like particle at the LHC. We show the allowed regions in the non-decoupling Higgs zone of MSSM parameter space which are consistent with several low energy constraints coming from heavy flavour physics, latest experimental data on Higgs signals and lower limit on superparticle masses from 7~TeV and 8~TeV LHC run. We also implement the constraints from the relic density of the cold dark matter as obtained from the recent PLANCK data. Additionally, we discuss the possibility of observing the light Higgs boson of mass 98~GeV at the 14~TeV LHC run via $pp \rightarrow V h$, with $h \rightarrow b \bar b$ using the technique of jet substructure. Our analysis shows that at 14~TeV LHC run with 300 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$ luminosity the signal efficiency of such a light Higgs boson is at most 2.5$\sigma$. Finally, we make a comment on the prospect of proposed $e^+ e^-$ ILC to discover/exclude this light Higgs boson.