multi-TeV Range Research Articles

New calorimeters for space experiments: physics requirements and technological challenges

Direct measurements of charged cosmic radiation with instruments in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), or flying on balloons above the atmosphere, require the identification of the incident particle, the measurement of its energy and possibly the determination of its sign-of-charge. The latter information can be provided by a magnetic spectrometer together with a measurement of momentum. However, magnetic deflection in space experiments is at present limited to values of the Maximum Detectable Rigidity (MDR) hardly exceeding a few TV. Advanced calorimetric techniques are, at present, the only way to measure charged and neutral radiation at higher energies in the multi-TeV range. Despite their mass limitation, calorimeters may achieve a large geometric factor and provide an adequate proton background rejection factor, taking advantage of a fine granularity and imaging capabilities. In this lecture, after a brief introduction on electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, an innovative approach to the design of a space-borne, large acceptance, homogeneous calorimeter for the detection of high energy cosmic rays will be described.

Tracking down hyper-boosted top quarks

The identification of hadronically decaying heavy states, such as vector bosons, the Higgs, or the top quark, produced with large transverse boosts has been and will continue to be a central focus of the jet physics program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). At a future hadron collider working at an order-of-magnitude larger energy than the LHC, these heavy states would be easily produced with transverse boosts of several TeV. At these energies, their decay products will be separated by angular scales comparable to individual calorimeter cells, making the current jet substructure identification techniques for hadronic decay modes not directly employable. In addition, at the high energy and luminosity projected at a future hadron collider, there will be numerous sources for contamination including initial- and final-state radiation, underlying event, or pile-up which must be mitigated. We propose a simple strategy to tag such “hyper-boosted” objects that defines jets with radii that scale inversely proportional to their transverse boost and combines the standard calorimetric information with charged track-based observables. By means of a fast detector simulation, we apply it to top quark identification and demonstrate that our method efficiently discriminates hadronically decaying top quarks from light QCD jets up to transverse boosts of 20 TeV. Our results open the way to tagging heavy objects with energies in the multi-TeV range at present and future hadron colliders.

The dynamical composite Higgs

We present a simple microscopic realization of a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (pNGB) boson Higgs scenario arising from the breaking of SO(5) → SO(4). The Higgs constituents are explicitly identified as well as the interactions responsible for forming the bound state and breaking the electroweak symmetry. This outcome follows from the presence of four-fermion interactions with a super-critical coupling, and uses the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio mechanism to break the global SO(5) symmetry. The Higgs potential is found to be insensitive to high energy scales due to the existence of an approximate infrared fixed point. The appearance of vector resonances is described and the correspondence with other proposals in the literature established. The model described here is significantly simpler than other recent ultraviolet completions of pNGB scenarios. The observed Higgs mass can be accommodated, and agreement with electroweak precision tests achieved in certain regions of parameter space. There are also new vector-like fermions, some of which may lie within reach of the LHC. In addition, we predict a heavy standard model singlet scalar in the multi-TeV range. The amount of fine-tuning required in the model is studied. Finally, we show that such a scheme can be completed in the ultraviolet by a renormalizable theory.

Twin Higgs mechanism and a composite Higgs boson

We combine the Twin Higgs mechanism with the paradigm of Composite Higgs models. In this class of models the Higgs is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson from a strongly coupled sector near the TeV scale, and it is additionally protected by a discrete symmetry due to the twin mechanism. We discuss the model building issues associated with this setup and quantify the tuning needed to achieve the correct electroweak vacuum and the Higgs mass. In contrast to standard Composite Higgs models, the lightest resonance associated with the top sector is the uncolored mirror top, while the colored top partners can be made parameterically heavier without extra tuning. In some cases, the vector resonances are predicted to lie in the multi-TeV range. We present models where the resonances - both fermions and vectors - being heavier alleviates the pressure on naturalness coming from direct searches demonstrating that theories with low tuning may survive constraints from the Large Hadron Collider.

Light-by-light scattering with intact protons at the LHC: from standard model to new physics

We discuss the discovery potential of light-by-light scattering at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), induced by the Standard Model (SM) and by new exotic charged particles. Our simulation relies on intact proton detection in the planned forward detectors of CMS and ATLAS. The full four-photon amplitudes generated by any electrically charged particles of spins $1/2$ and $1$, including the SM processes involving loops of leptons, quarks and $W$ bosons are implemented in the Forward Physics Monte Carlo generator. Our method provides model-independent bounds on massive charged particles, only parametrized by the spin, mass and "effective charge" $Q_{\rm eff}$ of the new particle. We find that a new charged vector (fermion) with $Q_{\rm eff}=4$ can be discovered up to $m=640~\rm GeV$ ($m=300~\rm GeV$) with an integrated luminosity of $300~\rm fb^{-1}$ at the LHC. We also discuss the sensitivities to neutral particles such as a strongly-interacting heavy dilaton and warped Kaluza-Klein gravitons, whose effects could be discovered for masses in the multi-TeV range.

The higgsino–singlino world at the large hadron collider

We consider light higgsinos and singlinos in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider. We assume that the singlino is the lightest supersymmetric particle and that the higgsino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle with the remaining supersymmetric particles in the multi-TeV range. This scenario, which is motivated by the flavor and CP issues, provides a phenomenologically viable dark matter candidate and improved electroweak fit consistent with the measured Higgs mass. Here, the higgsinos decay into on (off)-shell gauge boson and the singlino. We consider the leptonic decay modes and the resulting signature is three isolated leptons and missing transverse energy which is known as the trilepton signal. We simulate the signal and the Standard Model backgrounds and present the exclusion region in the higgsino-singlino mass plane at the Large Hadron Collider at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV for an integrated luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$.

Resurrecting light stops after the 125 GeV Higgs in the baryon number violating CMSSM

In order to accommodate the observed Higgs boson mass in the CMSSM, the stops must either be very heavy or the mixing in the stop sector must be very large. Lower stop masses, possibly more accessible at the LHC, still give the correct Higgs mass only if the trilinear stop mixing parameter $|A_t|$ is in the multi-TeV range. Recently it has been shown that such large stop mixing leads to an unstable electroweak vacuum which spontaneously breaks charge or colour. In this work we therefore go beyond the CMSSM and investigate the effects of including baryon number violating operators $\lambda'' \bar{\bf U} \bar{\bf D}\bar{\bf D}$ on the stop and Higgs sectors. We find that for $\lambda'' \simeq {\mathcal{O}}(0.3)$ light stop masses as low as 220 GeV are consistent with the observed Higgs mass as well as flavour constraints while allowing for a stable vacuum. The light stop in this scenario is often the lightest supersymmetric particle. We furthermore discuss the importance of the one-loop corrections involving R-parity violating couplings for a valid prediction of the light stop masses.

Peccei–Quinn symmetric pure gravity mediation

Successful models of Pure Gravity Mediation (PGM) with radiative electroweak symmetry breaking can be expressed with as few as two free parameters which can be taken as the gravitino mass and $\tan \beta$. These models easily support a 125-126 GeV Higgs mass at the expense of a scalar spectrum in the multi-TeV range and a much lighter wino as the lightest supersymmetric particle. In these models, it is also quite generic that the Higgs mixing mass parameter, $\mu$, which is determined by the minimization of the Higgs potential is also in the multi-TeV range. For $\mu > 0$, the thermal relic density of winos is too small to account for the dark matter. The same is true for $\mu < 0$ unless the gravitino mass is of order 500 TeV. Here, we consider the origin of a multi-TeV $\mu$ parameter arising from the breakdown of a Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry. A coupling of the PQ-symmetry breaking field, $P$, to the MSSM Higgs doublets, naturally leads to a value of $\mu \sim \langle P \rangle^2 /M_P \sim \mathcal{O}(100)$ TeV and of order that is required in PGM models. In this case, axions make up the dark matter or some fraction of the dark matter with the remainder made up from thermal or non-thermal winos. We also provide solutions to the problem of isocurvature fluctuations with axion dark matter in this context.

Probing new physics in diphoton production with proton tagging at the Large Hadron Collider

The sensitivities to anomalous quartic photon couplings at the Large Hadron Collider are estimated using diphoton production via photon fusion. The tagging of the protons proves to be a very powerful tool to suppress the background and unprecedented sensitivities down to $7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1{0}^{\ensuremath{-}15}\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ are obtained, providing a new window on extra dimensions and strongly interacting composite states in the multi-TeV range. Generic contributions to quartic photon couplings from charged and neutral particles with arbitrary spin are also presented.

High-precision predictions for the light CP-even Higgs boson mass of the minimal supersymmetric standard model.

For the interpretation of the signal discovered in the Higgs searches at the LHC it will be crucial in particular to discriminate between the minimal Higgs sector realized in the standard model (SM) and its most commonly studied extension, the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The measured mass value, having already reached the level of a precision observable with an experimental accuracy of about 500 MeV, plays an important role in this context. In the MSSM the mass of the light CP-even Higgs boson, Mh, can directly be predicted from the other parameters of the model. The accuracy of this prediction should at least match the one of the experimental result. The relatively high mass value of about 126 GeV has led to many investigations where the scalar top quarks are in the multi-TeV range. We improve the prediction for Mh in the MSSM by combining the existing fixed-order result, comprising the full one-loop and leading and subleading two-loop corrections, with a resummation of the leading and subleading logarithmic contributions from the scalar top sector to all orders. In this way for the first time a high-precision prediction for the mass of the light CP-even Higgs boson in the MSSM is possible all the way up to the multi-TeV region of the relevant supersymmetric particles. The results are included in the code FEYNHIGGS.

Effective WIMPs

The 'WIMP miracle' for the relic abundance of thermal dark matter motivates weak scale dark matter with renormalizable couplings to standard model particles. We study minimal models with such couplings that explain dark matter as a thermal relic. The models contain a singlet dark matter particle with cubic renormalizable couplings between standard model particles and 'partner' particles with the same gauge quantum numbers as the standard model particle. The dark matter has spin 0, 1/2, or 1, and may or may not be its own antiparticle. Each model has 3 parameters: the masses of the dark matter and standard model partners, and the cubic coupling. Requiring the correct relic abundance gives a 2-dimensional parameter space where collider and direct detection constraints can be directly compared. We focus on the case of dark matter interactions with colored particles. We find that collider and direct detection searches are remarkably complementary for these models. Direct detection limits for the cases where the dark matter is not its own antiparticle require dark matter masses to be in the multi-TeV range, where they are extremely difficult to probe in collider experiments. The models where dark matter is its own antiparticle are strongly constrained by collider searches for monojet and jets + MET signals. These models are constrained by direct detection mainly near the limit where the dark matter and partner masses are nearly degenerate, where collider searches become more difficult.

First look at the physics case of TLEP

Abstract The discovery by the ATLAS and CMS experiments of a new boson with mass around 125 GeV and with measured properties compatible with those of a Standard-Model Higgs boson, coupled with the absence of discoveries of phenomena beyond the Standard Model at the TeV scale, has triggered interest in ideas for future Higgs factories. A new circular e+e− collider hosted in a 80 to 100 km tunnel, TLEP, is among the most attractive solutions proposed so far. It has a clean experimental environment, produces high luminosity for top-quark, Higgs boson, W and Z studies, accommodates multiple detectors, and can reach energies up to the $$ \mathrm{t}\overline{\mathrm{t}} $$ threshold and beyond. It will enable measurements of the Higgs boson properties and of Electroweak Symmetry-Breaking (EWSB) parameters with unequalled precision, offering exploration of physics beyond the Standard Model in the multi-TeV range. Moreover, being the natural precursor of the VHE-LHC, a 100 TeV hadron machine in the same tunnel, it builds up a long-term vision for particle physics. Altogether, the combination of TLEP and the VHE-LHC offers, for a great cost effectiveness, the best precision and the best search reach of all options presently on the market. This paper presents a first appraisal of the salient features of the TLEP physics potential, to serve as a baseline for a more extensive design study.

Tackling light higgsinos at the ILC

In supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, higgsino-like charginos and neutralinos are preferred to have masses of the order of the electroweak scale by naturalness arguments. Such light $\widetilde{\chi}^{0}_{1}$ , $\widetilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ and $\widetilde{\chi}^{\pm}_{1}$ states can be almost mass degenerate, and their decays are then difficult to observe at colliders. In addition to the generic naturalness argument, light higgsinos are well motivated from a top-down perspective. For instance, they arise naturally in certain models of hybrid gauge-gravity mediation. In the present analysis, we study two benchmark points which have been derived in the framework of such a model, which exhibit mass differences of $\mathcal {O}(\mathrm {GeV})$ in the higgsino sector. For chargino-pair and neutralino associated production with initial-state photon radiation, we simulate the detector response and determine how accurately the small mass differences, the absolute masses and the cross sections can be measured at the International Linear Collider. Assuming that 500 fb−1 has been collected at each of two beam-polarisations P(e +,e −)=(±30 %,∓80 %), we find that the mass differences can be measured to 40–300 MeV, the cross sections to 2–5 %, and the absolute masses to 1.5–3.3 GeV, where the range of values correspond to the different scenarios and channels. Based on these observables we perform a parameter fit in the MSSM, from which we infer that the higgsino mass parameter μ can be measured to a precision of about Δμ=2–7 GeV. For the electroweak gaugino mass parameters M 1, M 2, which are chosen in the multi-TeV range, a narrow region is compatible with the measurements. For both parameters independently, we can determine a lower bound.

GAMMA-RAYS FROM BLAZARS AND THE EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT

Recent observations of blazars at high energy (0.1–100 GeV) and very high energy (&gt; 0.1 TeV) have provided important constraints on the intensity and spectrum of the diffuse extragalactic background light (EBL), shedding light on its main origin. Several issues remain open, however, in particular in the mid- and far-infrared bands and in the blazar emission at multi-TeV energies. This review summarizes the observational and theoretical progress in the study of the EBL with gamma-rays and the most promising future improvements, which are mainly expected from spectra in the multi-TeV range.

A comparison of the Higgs sectors of the CMSSM and NMSSM for a 126 GeV Higgs boson

The recent discovery of a Higgs-like boson at the LHC with a mass of 126 GeV has revived the interest in supersymmetric models, which predicted a Higgs boson mass below 130 GeV long before its discovery. We compare systematically the allowed parameter space in the constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Model (NMSSM) by minimizing the χ2 function with respect to all known constraints from accelerators and cosmology using GUT scale parameters. For the CMSSM the Higgs boson mass at tree level is below the Z0 boson mass and large radiative corrections are needed to obtain a Higgs boson mass of 126 GeV, which requires stop squark masses in the multi-TeV range. In contrast, for the NMSSM light stop quarks are allowed, since in the NMSSM at tree level the Higgs boson mass can be above the Z0 boson mass from mixing with the additional singlet Higgs boson. Predictions for the scalar boson masses are given in both models with emphasis on the unique signatures of the NMSSM, where the heaviest scalar Higgs boson decays in the two lighter scalar Higgs bosons with a significant branching ratio, in which case one should observe double Higgs boson production at the LHC. Such a signal is strongly suppressed in the CMSSM. In addition, since the LSP is higgsino-like, Higgs boson decays into LSPs can be appreciable, thus leading to invisible Higgs decays.

Non-decoupling SUSY in LFV Higgs decays: a window to new physics at the LHC

The recent discovery of a SM-like Higgs boson at the LHC, with a mass around 125-126 GeV, together with the absence of results in the direct searches for supersymmetry, is pushing the SUSY scale ($m_\text{SUSY}$) into the multi-TeV range. This discouraging situation from a low-energy SUSY point of view has its counterpart in indirect SUSY observables which present a non-decoupling behavior with $m_\text{SUSY}$. This is the case of the one-loop lepton flavor violating Higgs decay rates induced by SUSY, which are shown here to remain constant as $m_\text{SUSY}$ grows, for large $m_\text{SUSY} >$ 2 TeV values and for all classes of intergenerational mixing in the slepton sector, $LL$, $LR$, $RL$ and $RR$. In this work we focus on the LFV decays of the three neutral MSSM Higgs bosons $h$, $H$, $A \to \tau \mu$, considering the four types of slepton mixing ($\delta_{23}^{LL}$, $\delta_{23}^{LR}$, $\delta_{23}^{RL}$, $\delta_{23}^{RR}$), and show that all the three channels could be measurable at the LHC, being $h \to \tau \mu$ the most promising one, with up to about hundred of events expected with the current LHC center-of-mass energy and luminosity. The most promising predictions for the future LHC stage are also included.

Universality in pure gravity mediation

If low energy supersymmetry is realized in nature, the apparent discovery of a Higgs boson with mass around 125 GeV points to a supersymmetric mass spectrum in the TeV or multi-TeV range. Multi-TeV scalar masses are a necessary component of supersymmetric models with pure gravity mediation or in any model with strong moduli stabilization. Here, we show that full scalar mass universality remains viable as long as the ratio of Higgs vevs, tan beta is relatively small (\lesssim 2.5). We discuss in detail the low energy (observable) consequences of these models.

Gamma-ray boxes from axion-mediated dark matter

We compute the gamma-ray output of axion-mediated dark matter and derive the corresponding constraints set by recent data. In such scenarios the dark matter candidate is a Dirac fermion that pair-annihilates into axions and/or scalars. Provided that the axion decays (at least partly) into photons, these models naturally give rise to a box-shaped gamma-ray spectrum that may present two distinct phenomenological behaviours: a narrow box, resembling a line at half the dark matter mass, or a wide box, spanning an extensive energy range up to the dark matter mass. Remarkably, we find that in both cases a sizable gamma-ray flux is predicted for a thermal relic without fine-tuning the model parameters nor invoking boost factors. This large output is in line with recent Fermi-LAT observations towards the galactic centre region and is on the verge of being excluded. We then make use of the Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. data to derive robust, model-independent upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section for the narrow and wide box scenarios. H.E.S.S. constraints, in particular, turn out to match the ones from Fermi-LAT at hundreds of GeV and extend to multi-TeV masses. Future Čerenkov telescopes will likely probe gamma-ray boxes from thermal dark matter relics in the whole multi-TeV range, a region hardly accessible to direct detection, collider searches and other indirect detection strategies.

Higgs boson Mass in GMSB with Messenger–Matter mixing

A Higgs-like particle with mass of order 125 GeV has been observed by both ATLAS and CMS experiments. This Higgs mass causes sparticle masses in the several to multi-TeV range in the simple version of minimal GMSB models. We consider the effects of messenger–matter mixing on the lightest CP–even Higgs boson mass in gauge–mediated supersymmetry breaking models. We find with such mixings a 125 GeV Higgs boson can be naturally obtained even with a sub–TeV SUSY spectrum, and when the gravitino has a cosmologically preferred sub–keV mass. In addition, when these models are embedded into a grand unification framework with a U(1) flavor symmetry they explain the fermion mass hierarchy and generate naturally large neutrino mixing angles accompanied with small quark mixing angles. While SUSY mediated flavor changing processes are sufficiently suppressed in such an embedding, it can resolve the apparent discrepancy in the CP asymmetry parameters sin2β and ϵK, and it predicts an observable μ→eγ decay rate.

The CLIC Study of a Multi-TeV Linear Collider

This article reviews the status of the CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) study toward feasibility demonstration of a novel and challenging technology that has been specially developed to extend the energy reach of linear colliders into the multi-TeV range so that they will be complementary to the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). A conceptual design report is being prepared; it summarizes the performance of a high-energy facility based on this technology, as well as the results of the research and development carried out to address its feasibility.