Abstract: We investigate couplings of squarks to gauge and Higgs-bosons within the framework of non-minimal flavour violation in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Introducing non-diagonal elements in the mass matrices of squarks, we first study their impact on the self-energies and physical mass eigenvalues of squarks. We then present an extensive analysis of bosonic squark decays for variations of the flavour-violating parameters around the two benchmark scenarios SPS1a' and SPS1b. Signatures, that would be characteristic for a non-minimal flavour structure in the squark sector, can be found in wide regions of the parameter space.

Abstract: The next to leading order chiral corrections to the SU(2) x SU(2) Gell-Mann-Oakes- Renner (GMOR) relation are obtained using the pseudoscalar correlator to five-loop order in perturbative QCD, together with new finite energy sum rules (FESR) incorporating polynomial, Legendre type, integration kernels. The purpose of these kernels is to suppress hadronic contributions in the region where they are least known. This reduces considerably the systematic uncertainties arising from the lack of direct experimental information on the hadronic resonance spectral function. Three different methods are used to compute the FESR contour integral in the complex energy (squared) s-plane, i.e. Fixed Order Perturbation Theory, Contour Improved Perturbation Theory, and a fixed renormalization scale scheme. We obtain for the corrections to the GMOR relation, delta(pi), the value delta(pi) = (6.2 +/- 1.6)%. This result is substantially more accurate than previous determinations based on QCD sum rules; it is also more reliable as it is basically free of systematic uncertainties. It implies a light quark condensate < 0 vertical bar(u) over baru vertical bar 0 > similar or equal to < 0 vertical bar(d) over bard vertical bar 0 > < 0 vertical bar(q) over barq vertical bar 0 >vertical bar(2GeV) = (-267 +/- 5MeV)(3). As a byproduct, the chiral perturbation theory (unphysical) low energy constant H-2(r) is predicted to be H-2(r)(nu(X) = M-p) = -(5.1 +/- 1.8) x10(-3), or H-2(r) (nu(X) = M-eta) = -(5.7 +/- 2.0) x10(-3).

Abstract: Statistical inference of the fundamental parameters of supersymmetric theories is a challenging and active endeavor. Several sophisticated algorithms have been employed to this end. While Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and nested sampling techniques are geared towards Bayesian inference, they have also been used to estimate frequentist confidence intervals based on the profile likelihood ratio. We investigate the performance and appropriate configuration of MULTINEST, a nested sampling based algorithm, when used for profile likelihood-based analyses both on toy models and on the parameter space of the Constrained MSSM. We find that while the standard configuration previously used in the literarture is appropriate for an accurate reconstruction of the Bayesian posterior, the profile likelihood is poorly approximated. We identify a more appropriate MULTINEST configuration for profile likelihood analyses, which gives an excellent exploration of the profile likelihood (albeit at a larger computational cost), including the identification of the global maximum likelihood value. We conclude that with the appropriate configuration MULTINEST is a suitable tool for profile likelihood studies, indicating previous claims to the contrary are not well founded.