Bhattacharya, T., Cirigliano, V., Cohen, S. D., Filipuzzi, A., Gonzalez-Alonso, M., Graesser, M. L., et al. (2012). Probing novel scalar and tensor interactions from (ultra)cold neutrons to the LHC. Phys. Rev. D, 85(5), 054512–29pp.
Abstract: Scalar and tensor interactions were once competitors to the now well-established V – A structure of the standard model weak interactions. We revisit these interactions and survey constraints from low-energy probes (neutron, nuclear, and pion decays) as well as collider searches. Currently, the most stringent limit on scalar and tensor interactions arise from 0(+) -> 0(+) nuclear decays and the radiative pion decay pi -> e nu gamma, respectively. For the future, we find that upcoming neutron beta decay and LHC measurements will compete in setting the most stringent bounds. For neutron beta decay, we demonstrate the importance of lattice computations of the neutron-to-proton matrix elements to setting limits on these interactions, and provide the first lattice estimate of the scalar charge and a new average of existing results for the tensor charge. Data taken at the LHC is currently probing these interactions at the 10(-2) level (relative to the standard weak interactions), with the potential to reach the less than or similar to 10(-3) level. We show that, with some theoretical assumptions, the discovery of a charged spin-0 resonance decaying to an electron and missing energy implies a lower limit on the strength of scalar interactions probed at low energy.
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Bertone, G., Cumberbatch, D., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Trotta, R. (2012). Dark Matter searches: the nightmare scenario. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 01(1), 004–24pp.
Abstract: The unfortunate case where the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) fails to discover physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is sometimes referred to as the “Nightmare scenario” of particle physics. We study the consequences of this hypothetical scenario for Dark Matter (DM), in the framework of the constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (cMSSM). We evaluate the surviving regions of the cMSSM parameter space after null searches at the LHC, using several different LHC configurations, and study the consequences for DM searches with ton-scale direct detectors and the IceCube neutrino telescope. We demonstrate that ton-scale direct detection experiments will be able to conclusively probe the cMSSM parameter space that would survive null searches at the LHC with 100 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity at 14TeV. We also demonstrate that IceCube (80 strings plus DeepCore) will be able to probe as much as similar or equal to 17% of the currently favoured parameter space after 5 years of observation.
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Bertone, G., Cerdeño, D. G., Fornasa, M., Ruiz de Austri, R., Strege, C., & Trotta, R. (2012). Global fits of the cMSSM including the first LHC and XENON100 data. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 01(1), 015–23pp.
Abstract: We present updated global fits of the constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (cMSSM), including the most recent constraints from the ATLAS and CMS detectors at the LHC, as well as the most recent results of the XENON100 experiment. Our robust analysis takes into account both astrophysical and hadronic uncertainties that enter in the calculation of the rate of WIMP-induced recoils in direct detection experiment. We study the consequences for neutralino Dark Matter, and show that current direct detection data already allow to robustly rule out the so-called Focus Point region, therefore demonstrating the importance of particle astrophysics experiments in constraining extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We also observe an increased compatibility between results obtained from a Bayesian and a Frequentist statistical perspective. We find that upcoming ton-scale direct detection experiments will probe essentially the entire currently favoured region (at the 99% level), almost independently of the statistical approach used. Prospects for indirect detection of the cMSSM are further reduced.
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Bertone, G., Cerdeño, D. G., Fornasa, M., Pieri, L., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Trotta, R. (2012). Complementarity of indirect and accelerator dark matter searches. Phys. Rev. D, 85(5), 055014–10pp.
Abstract: Even if supersymmetric particles are found at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it will be difficult to prove that they constitute the bulk of the dark matter (DM) in the Universe using LHC data alone. We study the complementarity of LHC and DM indirect searches, working out explicitly the reconstruction of the DM properties for a specific benchmark model in the coannihilation region of a 24-parameters supersymmetric model. Combining mock high-luminosity LHC data with presentday null searches for gamma rays from dwarf galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope, we show that current Fermi Large Area Telescope limits already have the capability of ruling out a spurious wino-like solution which would survive using LHC data only, thus leading to the correct identification of the cosmological solution. We also demonstrate that upcoming Planck constraints on the reionization history will have a similar constraining power and discuss the impact of a possible detection of gamma rays from DM annihilation in the Draco dwarf galaxy with a Cherenkov-Telescope-Array-like experiment. Our results indicate that indirect searches can be strongly complementary to the LHC in identifying the DM particles, even when astrophysical uncertainties are taken into account.
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Bertolini, S., Di Luzio, L., & Malinsky, M. (2012). Seesaw scale in the minimal renormalizable SO(10) grand unification. Phys. Rev. D, 85(9), 095014–22pp.
Abstract: Simple SO(10) Higgs models with the adjoint representation triggering the grand unified symmetry breaking, discarded long ago due to inherent tree-level tachyonic instabilities in the physically interesting scenarios, have been recently brought back to life by quantum effects. In this work we focus on the variant with 45(H) circle plus 126(H) in the Higgs sector and show that there are several regions in the parameter space of this model that can support stable unifying configurations with the B – L-breaking scale as high as 10(14) GeV, well above the previous generic estimates based on the minimal survival hypothesis. This admits for a renormalizable implementation of the canonical seesaw and makes the simplest potentially realistic scenario of this kind a good candidate for a minimal SO(10) grand unification. Last, but not least, this setting is likely to be extensively testable at future large-volume facilities such as Hyper-Kamiokande.
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