Same-sign Leptons Research Articles

Observation of the Production of Three Massive Gauge Bosons at sqrt[s]=13 TeV.

The first observation is reported of the combined production of three massive gauge bosons (VVV with V=W, Z) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV. The analysis is based on a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb^{-1}. The searches for individual WWW, WWZ, WZZ, and ZZZ production are performed in final states with three, four, five, and six leptons (electrons or muons), or with two same-sign leptons plus one or two jets. The observed (expected) significance of the combined VVV production signal is 5.7 (5.9) standard deviations and the corresponding measured cross section relative to the standard model prediction is 1.02_{-0.23}^{+0.26}. The significances of the individual WWW and WWZ production are 3.3 and 3.4 standard deviations, respectively. Measured production cross sections for the individual triboson processes are also reported.

Probing \u03bc\u03c4 flavor-violating solutions for the muon g \u2212 2 anomaly at Belle II

The discrepancy between the measured value and the Standard Model prediction of the muon anomalous magnetic moment is one of the most important issues in the particle physics. It is known that introducing a mediator boson X with the μτ lepton flavor violating (LFV) couplings is one good solution to explain the discrepancy, due to the τ mass enhancement in the one-loop correction. In this paper, we study the signal of this model, i.e. the same-sign leptons, in the Belle II experiment, assuming the flavor-diagonal couplings are suppressed. We show that the Belle II experiment is highly sensitive to the scenario in the mediator mass range of O(1–10) GeV, using the e+e−→ μ±τ∓X → μ±μ±τ∓τ∓ process induced by the X .

Search for squarks and gluinos in final states with same-sign leptons and jets using 139 fb\u22121 of data collected with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetric partners of gluons and quarks is presented, involving signatures with jets and either two isolated leptons (electrons or muons) with the same electric charge, or at least three isolated leptons. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1, is used for the search. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in simplified supersymmetric models featuring both R-parity conservation and R-parity violation, raising the exclusion limits beyond those of previous ATLAS searches to 1600 GeV for gluino masses and 750 GeV for bottom and top squark masses in these scenarios.

Probing e\u03bc flavor-violating ALP at Belle II

Recently, it was pointed out that the electron and muon g − 2 discrepancies can be explained simultaneously by a single flavor-violating axion-like particle (ALP). We show that the parameter regions favored by the muon g − 2 are already excluded by the muonium-antimuonium oscillation bound. In contrast, those for the electron g − 2 can be consistent with this bound when the ALP is heavier than 1.5 GeV. We propose to search for a signature of the same-sign and same-flavor lepton pairs and the forward-backward muon asymmetry to test the model at the Belle II experiment.

Probing the decoupled seesaw scalar in rare Higgs boson decay

The Higgs boson can mix with a singlet scalar that dynamically generates the Majorana mass of the right-handed neutrino NR. We show that even a tiny mixing between the Higgs boson and a ‘decoupled’ singlet scalar allows for Higgs-mediated pair production of NR without significant mixings between the active neutrinos and NR, and thus testable at colliders via a characteristic signal of two same-sign same-flavor lepton pairs, plus missing energy. We demonstrate that this search channel is mostly background- free in pp-collision and can be a highly sensitive probe of the Higgs-singlet mixing at the current and future pp colliders. Such channel provides a clean signal to discover the singlet scalar and explore the origin of neutrino masses.

Search for production of four top quarks in final states with same-sign or multiple leptons in proton\u2013proton collisions at sqrt{s}=13,text {TeV}

The standard model (SM) production of four top quarks (text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} ) in proton–proton collisions is studied by the CMS Collaboration. The data sample, collected during the 2016–2018 data taking of the LHC, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 137,text {fb}^{-1} at a center-of-mass energy of 13,text {TeV}. The events are required to contain two same-sign charged leptons (electrons or muons) or at least three leptons, and jets. The observed and expected significances for the text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} signal are respectively 2.6 and 2.7 standard deviations, and the text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} text {t} {}{overline{text {t}}} cross section is measured to be 12.6^{+5.8}_{-5.2},text {fb} . The results are used to constrain the Yukawa coupling of the top quark to the Higgs boson, y_{text {t}}, yielding a limit of |y_{text {t}}/y_{text {t}}^{mathrm {SM}} | < 1.7 at 95% confidence level, where y_{text {t}}^{mathrm {SM}} is the SM value of y_{text {t}}. They are also used to constrain the oblique parameter of the Higgs boson in an effective field theory framework, hat{H}<0.12. Limits are set on the production of a heavy scalar or pseudoscalar boson in Type-II two-Higgs-doublet and simplified dark matter models, with exclusion limits reaching 350–470,text {GeV} and 350–550,text {GeV} for scalar and pseudoscalar bosons, respectively. Upper bounds are also set on couplings of the top quark to new light particles.

Exploring the scattering of vector bosons at LHCb

In this letter, I propose a strategy to measure vector-boson scattering (VBS) at the LHCb experiment. The typical VBS topology at hadron colliders features two energetic back-to-back jets with large rapidities and two gauge bosons produced centrally. In this article, I show that such a topology can actually be probed by the LHCb detector. In particular, tagging only one of the two jets in combination with two same-sign leptons allows for a measurement with upcoming luminosities. I present an illustrative event selection where cross sections and differential distributions are computed for VBS and its irreducible background.

Topic model for four-top at the LHC

We study the implementation of a Topic Model algorithm in four-top searches at the LHC as a test-probe of a not ideal system for applying this technique. We study this Topic Model behavior as its different hypotheses such as mutual reducibility and equal distribution in all samples shift from true. The four-top final state at the LHC is not only relevant because it does not fulfill these conditions, but also because it is a difficult and inefficient system to reconstruct and current Monte Carlo modeling of signal and backgrounds suffers from non-negligible uncertainties. We implement this Topic Model algorithm in the Same-Sign lepton channel where S/B is of order one and all backgrounds cannot have more than two b-jets at parton level. We define different mixtures according to the number of b- jets and we use the total number of jets to demix. Since only the background has an anchor bin, we find that we can reconstruct the background in the signal region independently of Monte Carlo. We propose to use this information to tune the Monte Carlo in the signal region and then compare signal prediction with data. We also explore Machine Learning techniques applied to this Topic Model algorithm and find slight improvements as well as potential roads to investigate. Although our findings indicate that still with the full LHC run 3 data the implementation would be challenging, we pursue through this work to find ways to reduce the impact of Monte Carlo simulations in four-top searches at the LHC.

Four-top as probe of light top-philic New Physics

We study the four-top (t overline{t} t overline{t} ) final state at the LHC as a probe for New Physics (NP) effects due to new particles that couple predominantly to the top quark and whose masses are below the top-quark-pair production threshold. We consider simple NP models containing a new particle with either spin 0, spin 1, or spin 2, and find benchmark points compatible with current experimental results. We find that interference effects between NP and QED amplitudes can be large, pointing out the necessity of NLO contributions to be explicitly computed and taken into account when NP is present. We examine kinematic differences between these models and the Standard Model (SM) at the parton level and the reconstructed level. In the latter case, we focus on events selected requiring two same-sign leptons and multiple jets. We investigate how the different Lorentz structure of the light NP affects the kinematic hardness, the polarization, the spin correlations, and the angular distributions of the parton-level and/or final-state particles. We find that spin-2 light NP would be identified by harder kinematics than the SM. We also show that the angular sepa- ration between the same-sign leptons is a sensitive observable for spin-0 NP. The spin-0 and spin-2 NP cases would also yield a signal in t overline{t} γγ with the invariant mass of the photons in- dicating the mass of the new particle. The spin-1 NP would be identified through an excess in four-top signal and slight or not modification in other observables, as for instance the lack of signal in t overline{t} γγ due to the Landau-Yang theorem. We comment on the opportunities that would open from the kinematic reconstruction of some of the top quarks in the t overline{t} t overline{t} state. Our results provide new handles to probe for light top-philic NP as part of the ongoing experimental program of searches for four-top production at the LHC Run 2 and beyond.

Observation of Electroweak Production of a Same-Sign W Boson Pair in Association with Two Jets in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector.

This Letter presents the observation and measurement of electroweak production of a same-sign W boson pair in association with two jets using 36.1 fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is performed in the detector fiducial phase-space region, defined by the presence of two same-sign leptons, electron or muon, and at least two jets with a large invariant mass and rapidity difference. A total of 122 candidate events are observed for a background expectation of 69±7 events, corresponding to an observed signal significance of 6.5 standard deviations. The measured fiducial signal cross section is σ^{fid}=2.89_{-0.48}^{+0.51}(stat)_{-0.28}^{+0.29}(syst) fb.

Exotic decays of top partners with charge 5/3: bounds and opportunities

Exotic decays of top partners in new bosons are the norm in realistic models of a composite Higgs. We focus on the custodial charge-5/3 partner, which normally decays exclusively into tW+. The new channels include a colour-sextet, X5/3→ overline{b} π6, as well as singly and doubly charged scalars, X5/3→ t\U0001d719+, b\U0001d719++. We use existing same-sign lepton searches to show that the new final states are constrained at the same level as the standard one. At the same time, exotic final states also offer opportunities for improvement: examples include a hard photon in X5/3→ t\U0001d719+→ tW+γ decays, and top-rich channels which arises in several exotic X5/3 decays.

Phenomenology of TeV-scale scalar leptoquarks in the EFT

We examine new aspects of leptoquark (LQ) phenomenology using effective field theory (EFT). We construct a complete set of leading effective operators involving SU(2) singlets scalar LQ and the SM fields up to dimension six. We show that, while the renormalizable LQ-lepton-quark interaction Lagrangian can address the persistent hints for physics beyond the Standard Model in the B-decays $\bar B \to D^{(*)} \tau \bar\nu$, $\bar B \to \bar K \ell^+ \ell^-$ and in the measured anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, the LQ higher dimensional effective operators may lead to new interesting effects associated with lepton number violation. These include the generation of one-loop sub-eV Majorana neutrino masses, mediation of neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay and novel LQ collider signals. For the latter, we focus on 3rd generation LQ ($\phi_3$) in a framework with an approximate $Z_3$ generation symmetry, and show that one class of the dimension five LQ operators may give rise to a striking asymmetric same-charge $\phi_3 \phi_3$ pair-production signal, which leads to low background same-sign leptons signals at the LHC. For example, with $M_{\phi_3} \sim 1$ TeV and a new physics scale of $\Lambda \sim 5$ TeV, we expect about $5000$ positively charged $\tau^+ \tau^+$ events via $pp \to \phi_3 \phi_3 \to \tau^+ \tau^+ + 2 \cdot j_b$ ($j_b$=b-jet) at the 13 TeV LHC with an integrated luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$. It is interesting to note that, in the LQ EFT framework, the expected same-sign lepton signals have a rate which is several times larger than the QCD LQ-mediated opposite-sign leptons signals, $gg,q \bar q \to \phi_3 \phi_3^* \to \ell^+ \ell^- +X$. We also consider the same-sign charged lepton signals in the LQ EFT framework at higher energy hadron colliders such as a 27 TeV HE-LHC and a 100 TeV FCC-hh.

Evidence for the production of three massive vector bosons with the ATLAS detector

A search for the production of three massive vector bosons in proton–proton collisions is performed using data at s=13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in the years 2015–2017, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.8 fb−1. Events with two same-sign leptons ℓ (electrons or muons) and at least two reconstructed jets are selected to search for WWW→ℓνℓνqq. Events with three leptons without any same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pairs are used to search for WWW→ℓνℓνℓν, while events with three leptons and at least one same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair and one or more reconstructed jets are used to search for WWZ→ℓνqqℓℓ. Finally, events with four leptons are analysed to search for WWZ→ℓνℓνℓℓ and WZZ→qqℓℓℓℓ. Evidence for the joint production of three massive vector bosons is observed with a significance of 4.1 standard deviations, where the expectation is 3.1 standard deviations.

Unearthing the electroweak structure of heavy charged gauge bosons

Heavy charged bosons, with masses in the range of a few TeV, are a characteristic of warped extra-dimensional models with bulk gauge fields. Rendering the latter consistent with electroweak precision tests typically requires either a deformation of the metric or extension of the gauge symmetry. We make here the first attempt at finding empirical discriminants which would tell these models apart. Demonstrating the power of simple kinematic observables involving same-sign leptons, we construct simple yet powerful statistical discriminants.

Dark mesons at the LHC

A new, strongly-coupled “dark” sector could be accessible to LHC searches now. These dark sectors consist of composites formed from constituents that are charged under the electroweak group and interact with the Higgs, but are neutral under Standard Model color. In these scenarios, the most promising target is the dark meson sector, consisting of dark vector-mesons as well as dark pions. In this paper we study dark meson production and decay at the LHC in theories that preserve a global SU(2) dark flavor symmetry. Dark pions — like the pions of QCD — can be pair-produced through resonant dark vector meson production, pp → ρD → πDπD, and decay in one of two distinct ways: “gaugephobic”, when {pi}_Dto f{overline{f}}^{prime } generally dominates; or “gaugephilic”, when πD → W + h, Z + h dominates once kinematically open. Unlike QCD, the decay πD0 → γγ is virtually absent due to the dark flavor symmetry. We recast a vast set of existing LHC searches to determine the current constraints on (and future opportunities for) dark meson production and decay. When {m}_{rho_D} is slightly heavier than 2{m}_{pi_D} and ρD±,0 kinetically mixes with the weak gauge bosons, the 8 TeV same-sign lepton search strategy sets the best bound, {m}_{pi_D} > 500 GeV. Yet, when only the ρD0 kinetically mixes with hypercharge, we find the strongest LHC bound is {m}_{pi_D} > 130 GeV, that is only slightly better than what LEP II achieved two decades ago. We find the relative insensitivity of LHC searches, especially at 13 TeV, can be blamed mainly on their penchant for high mass objects or large missing energy. Dedicated searches would undoubtedly yield substantially improved sensitivity. We provide a GitHub page to speed the implementation of these searches in future LHC analyses. Our findings for dark meson production and decay provide a strong motivation for model-independent searches of the form pp → A → B + C → SM SM + SM SM where the theoretical prejudice is for SM to be a 3rd generation quark or lepton, W, Z, or h.

Doubly-charged Higgs boson at a future electron-proton collider

We explore the discovery prospect of the doubly-charged component of an $SU(2)_L$-triplet scalar at the future $e^- p$ collider FCC-eh, proposed to operate with an electron beam energy of 60 GeV and a proton beam energy of 50 TeV. We consider the associated production of the doubly-charged Higgs boson along with leptons and jet(s), and its subsequent prompt decay to same-sign lepton pair. This occurs for ${\cal O}(1)$ Yukawa coupling of the scalar triplet with charged leptons, which is expected for reasonably small vacuum expectation values of the neutral component of the triplet field that governs the neutrino mass generation in the type-II seesaw. We present our analysis for two different final states, $3l+\ge1j$ and an inclusive $\ge2l+\ge1j$ channel. Considering its decay to electrons only, we find that the doubly-charged Higgs with mass around a TeV could be observed at $3\sigma$ confidence level with $\mathcal{O}(200)\, \rm{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, while masses up to 2 TeV could be probed within a few years of data accumulation. The signal proposed here becomes essentially background-free, if it is triggered in the $\mu\mu$ mode and a $5\sigma$ discovery is achievable in this channel for a TeV-scale doubly-charged Higgs with an integrated luminosity as low as $\mathcal{O} (50)\, \rm{fb}^{-1}$. We also highlight the sensitivity of FCC-eh to the Yukawa coupling responsible for production of the doubly-charged Higgs boson as a function of its mass in both the $ee$ and $\mu\mu$ channels.

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the WW(*)WW(*) decay channel using ATLAS data recorded at sqrt{mathrm{s}} = 13 TeV

A search for a pair of neutral, scalar bosons with each decaying into two W bosons is presented using 36.1 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This search uses three production models: non-resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production and resonant production of a pair of heavy scalar particles. Three final states, classified by the number of leptons, are analysed: two same-sign leptons, three leptons, and four leptons. No significant excess over the expected Standard Model backgrounds is observed. An observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limit of 160 (120) times the Standard Model prediction of non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section is set from a combined analysis of the three final states. Upper limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio of a heavy scalar X decaying into a Higgs boson pair in the mass range of 260 GeV ≤ mX ≤ 500 GeV and the observed (expected) limits range from 9.3 (10) pb to 2.8 (2.6) pb. Upper limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio of a heavy scalar X decaying into a pair of heavy scalars S for mass ranges of 280 GeV ≤ mX ≤ 340 GeV and 135 GeV ≤ mS ≤ 165 GeV and the observed (expected) limits range from 2.5 (2.5) pb to 0.16 (0.17) pb.

Search for top quark partners with charge 5/3 in the same-sign dilepton and single-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s}=13 TeV

A search for the pair production of heavy fermionic partners of the top quark with charge 5/3 (X5/3) is performed in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The data sample analyzed corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The X5/3 quark is assumed always to decay into a top quark and a W boson. Both the right-handed and left-handed X5/3 couplings to the W boson are considered. Final states with either a pair of same-sign leptons or a single lepton are studied. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected standard model background. Lower limits at 95% confidence level on the X5/3 quark mass are set at 1.33 and 1.30 TeV respectively for the case of right-handed and left-handed couplings to W bosons in a combination of the same-sign dilepton and single-lepton final states.

Low scale type II seesaw: present constraints and prospects for displaced vertex searches

The type II seesaw mechanism is an attractive way to generate the observed light neutrino masses. It postulates a SU(2)L-triplet scalar field, which develops an induced vacuum expectation value after electroweak symmetry breaking, giving masses to the neutrinos via its couplings to the lepton SU(2)L-doublets. When the components of the triplet field have masses around the electroweak scale, the model features a rich phenomenology. We discuss the currently allowed parameter space of the minimal low scale type II seesaw model, taking into account all relevant constraints, including charged lepton flavour violation as well as collider searches. We point out that the symmetry protected low scale type II seesaw scenario, where an approximate “lepton number”-like symmetry suppresses the Yukawa couplings of the triplet to the lepton doublets, is still largely untested by the current LHC results. In part of this parameter space the triplet components can be long-lived, potentially leading to a characteristic displaced vertex signature where the doubly-charged component decays into same-sign charged leptons. By performing a detailed analysis at the reconstructed level we find that already at the current run of the LHC a discovery would be possible for the considered parameter point, via dedicated searches for displaced vertex signatures. The discovery prospects are further improved at the HL-LHC and the FCC-hh/SppC.

Vacuum misalignment and pattern of scalar masses in the SU(5)/SO(5) composite Higgs model

Composite Higgs models based on SU(5)/SO(5) are characterised by the presence of custodial triplets, like the Georgi-Machacek model. We classify all the operators giving rise to the top mass and Higgs potential in presence of fermion partial compositeness, with top partners in two-index representations of SU(5). A detailed study of each operator allows us to find correlations in the couplings of Higgs and non-Higgs pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons, which depend only on one, two or three independent parameters. We also analyse the Higgs potential, finding that a misalignment along the custodial invariant triplet direction is forbidden by CP conservation. Avoiding custodial breaking allows us to select a handful of feasible models, which feature universal patterns in the scalar masses related to their transformation properties under the custodial symmetry. Finally, we briefly study the LHC phenomenology of the scalars, which are always below 1 TeV even for multi-TeV condensation scales, and find promising same-sign lepton final states enriched by hard photons.