|
|
van Beekveld, M., Beenakker, W., Caron, S., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2016). The case for 100 GeV bino dark matter: a dedicated LHC tri-lepton search. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 154–26pp.
Abstract: Global fit studies performed in the pMSSM and the photon excess signal originating from the Galactic Center seem to suggest compressed electroweak supersymmetric spectra with a similar to 100 GeV bino-like dark matter particle. We find that these scenarios are not probed by traditional electroweak supersymmetry searches at the LHC. We propose to extend the ATLAS and CMS electroweak supersymmetry searches with an improved strategy for bino-like dark matter, focusing on chargino plus next-to-lightest neutralino production, with a subsequent decay into a tri-lepton final state. We explore the sensitivity for pMSSM scenarios with Delta m = m(NLSP) – m(LSF) similar to(5 – 50) GeV in the root s = 14 TeV run of the LHC. Counterintuitively, we find that the requirement of low missing transverse energy increases the sensitivity compared to the current ATLAS and CMS searches. With 300 fb(-1) of data we expect the LHC experiments to be able to discover these supersymmetric spectra with mass gaps down to Am 9 GeV for DM masses between 40 and 140 GeV. We stress the importance of a dedicated search strategy that targets precisely these favored pMSSM spectra.
|
|
|
|
Cabrera, M. E., Casas, J. A., Delgado, A., Robles, S., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2016). Naturalness of MSSM dark matter. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 058–30pp.
Abstract: There exists a vast literature examining the electroweak (EW) fine-tuning problem in supersymmetric scenarios, but little concerned with the dark matter (DM) one, which should be combined with the former. In this paper, we study this problem in an, as much as possible, exhaustive and rigorous way. We have considered the MSSM framework, assuming that the LSP is the lightest neutralino, chi(0)(1), and exploring the various possibilities for the mass and composition of chi(0)(1), as well as different mechanisms for annihilation of the DM particles in the early Universe (well-tempered neutralinos, funnels and co-annihilation scenarios). We also present a discussion about the statistical meaning of the fine-tuning and how it should be computed for the DM abundance, and combined with the EW fine-tuning. The results are very robust and model-independent and favour some scenarios (like the h-funnel when M-chi 10 is not too close to m(h)/2) with respect to others (such as the pure wino case). These features should be taken into account when one explores “natural SUSY” scenarios and their possible signatures at the LHC and in DM detection experiments.
|
|
|
|
Chala, M., Delgado, A., Nardini, G., & Quiros, M. (2017). A light sneutrino rescues the light stop. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 097–22pp.
Abstract: Stop searches in supersymmetric frameworks with R-parity conservation usually assume the lightest neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we consider an alternative scenario in which the left-handed tau sneutrino is lighter than neutralinos and stable at collider scales, but possibly unstable at cosmological scales. Moreover the (mostly right-handed) stop (t) over tilde is lighter than all electroweakinos, and heavier than the scalars of the third generation lepton doublet, whose charged component, (T) over tilde, is heavier than the neutral one, (v) over tilde. The remaining supersymmetric particles are decoupled from the stop phenomenology. In most of the parameter space, the relevant stop decays are only into t (T) over tildeT, t (v) over tildev and b (v) over tildeT via off-shell electroweakinos. We constrain the branching ratios of these decays by recasting the most sensitive stop searches. Due to the “double invisible” kinematics of the (t) over tilde -> t (v) over tildev process, and the low efficiency in tagging the t (T) over tildeT decay products, light stops are generically allowed. In the minimal supersymmetric standard model with similar to 100 GeV sneutrinos, stops with masses as small as similar to 350 GeV turn out to be allowed at 95% CL.
|
|
|
|
Gomez, M. E., Lola, S., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Shafi, Q. (2018). Dark matter, sparticle spectroscopy and muon (g-2) in SU(4)(c) x SU(2)(L) x SU(2)(R). J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 062–24pp.
Abstract: We explore the sparticle mass spectra including LSP dark matter within the framework of supersymmetric SU(4)(c) x SU(2)(L) x SU(2)(R) (422) models, taking into account the constraints from extensive LHC and cold dark matter searches. The soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters at M-GUT can be non-universal, but consistent with the 422 symmetry. We identify a variety of coannihilation scenarios compatible with LSP dark matter, and study the implications for future supersymmetry searches and the ongoing muon g-2 experiment.
|
|
|
|
van Beekveld, M., Caron, S., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2020). The current status of fine-tuning in supersymmetry. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 147–41pp.
Abstract: In this paper, we minimize and compare two different fine-tuning measures in four high-scale supersymmetric models that are embedded in the MSSM. In addition, we determine the impact of current and future dark matter direct detection and collider experiments on the fine-tuning. We then compare the low-scale electroweak measure with the high-scale Barbieri-Giudice measure. We find that they reduce to the same value when the higgsino parameter drives the degree of fine-tuning. We also find spectra where the high-scale measure turns out to be lower than the low-scale measure. Depending on the high-scale model and fine-tuning definition, we find a minimal fine-tuning of 3-38 (corresponding to O(10-1)%) for the low-scale measure, and 63-571 (corresponding to O(1-0.1)%) for the high-scale measure. We stress that it is too early to conclude on the fate of supersymmetry, based only on the fine-tuning paradigm.
|
|
|
|
Ellis, J., Gomez, M. E., Lola, S., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Shafi, Q. (2020). Confronting grand unification with lepton flavour violation, dark matter and LHC data. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 197–29pp.
Abstract: We explore possible signatures for charged lepton flavour violation (LFV), sparticle discovery at the LHC and dark matter (DM) searches in grand unified theories (GUTs) based on SU(5), flipped SU(5) (FSU(5)) and SU(4)(c) x SU(2)(L) x SU(2)(R) (4-2-2). We assume that soft supersymmetry-breaking terms preserve the group symmetry at some high input scale, and focus on the non-universal effects on different matter representations generated by gauge interactions at lower scales, as well as the charged LFV induced in Type-1 see-saw models of neutrino masses. We identify the different mechanisms that control the relic DM density in the various GUT models, and contrast their LFV and LHC signatures. The SU(5) and 4-2-2 models offer good detection prospects both at the LHC and in LFV searches, though with different LSP compositions, and the SU(5) and FSU(5) models offer LFV within the current reach. The 4-2-2 model allows chargino and gluino coannihilations with neutralinos, and the former offer good detection prospects for both the LHC and LFV, while gluino coannihilations lead to lower LFV rates. Our results indicate that LFV is a powerful tool that complements LHC and DM searches, providing significant insights into the sparticle spectra and neutrino mass parameters in different models.
|
|
|
|
Pallis, C. (2014). Reconciling induced-gravity inflation in supergravity with the Planck 2013 & BICEP2 results. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 10(10), 058–18pp.
Abstract: We generalize the embedding of induced-gravity inflation beyond the no-scale Supergravity presented in ref. [1] employing two gauge singlet chiral superfields, a superpotential uniquely determined by applying a continuous R and a discrete Z(n) symmetries, and a logarithmic Kahler potential including all the allowed terms up to fourth order in powers of the various fields. We show that, increasing slightly the prefactor (-3) encountered in the adopted Kahler potential, an efficient enhancement of the resulting tensor-to-scalar ratio can be achieved rendering the predictions of the model consistent with the recent BICEP2 results, even with subplanckian excursions of the original inflaton field. The remaining inflationary observables can become compatible with the data by mildly tuning the coefficient involved in the fourth order term of the Kahler potential which mixes the inflaton with the accompanying non-inflaton field. The inflaton mass is predicted to be close to 10(14) GeV.
|
|
|
|
Ellis, J., Hodgkinson, R. N., Lee, J. S., & Pilaftsis, A. (2010). Flavour geometry and effective Yukawa couplings in the MSSM. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 016–35pp.
Abstract: We present a new geometric approach to the flavour decomposition of an arbitrary soft supersymmetry-breaking sector in the MSSM. Our approach is based on the geometry that results from the quark and lepton Yukawa couplings, and enables us to derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for a linearly-independent basis of matrices related to the completeness of the internal [SU(3) circle times U(1)](5) flavour space. In a second step, we calculate the effective Yukawa couplings that are enhanced at large values of tan beta for general soft supersymmetry-breaking mass parameters. We highlight the contributions due to non-universal terms in the flavour decompositions of the sfermion mass matrices. We present numerical examples illustrating how such terms are induced by renormalization-group evolution starting from universal input boundary conditions, and demonstrate their importance for the flavour-violating effective Yukawa couplings of quarks.
|
|
|
|
Schiavone, T., Montani, G., & Bombacigno, F. (2023). f(R) gravity in the Jordan frame as a paradigm for the Hubble tension. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 522(1), L72–L77.
Abstract: We analyse the f(R) gravity in the so-called Jordan frame, as implemented to the isotropic Universe dynamics. The goal of the present study is to show that according to recent data analyses of the supernovae Ia Pantheon sample, it is possible to account for an effective redshift dependence of the Hubble constant. This is achieved via the dynamics of a non-minimally coupled scalar field, as it emerges in the f(R) gravity. We face the question both from an analytical and purely numerical point of view, following the same technical paradigm. We arrive to establish that the expected decay of the Hubble constant with the redshift z is ensured by a form of the scalar field potential, which remains essentially constant for z less than or similar to 0.3, independently if this request is made a priori, as in the analytical approach, or obtained a posteriori, when the numerical procedure is addressed. Thus, we demonstrate that an f(R) dark energy model is able to account for an apparent variation of the Hubble constant due to the rescaling of the Einstein constant by the f(R) scalar mode.
|
|
|
|
Di Valentino, E., Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., & Vagnozzi, S. (2020). Soundness of dark energy properties. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 045–45pp.
Abstract: Type Ia Supernovae (SNeIa) used as standardizable candles have been instrumental in the discovery of cosmic acceleration, usually attributed to some form of dark energy (DE). Recent studies have raised the issue of whether intrinsic SNeIa luminosities might evolve with redshift. While the evidence for cosmic acceleration is robust to this possible systematic, the question remains of how much the latter can affect the inferred properties of the DE component responsible for cosmic acceleration. This is the question we address in this work. We use SNeIa distance moduli measurements from the Pantheon and JLA samples. We consider models where the DE equation of state is a free parameter, either constant or time-varying, as well as models where DE and dark matter interact, and finally a model-agnostic parametrization of effects due to modified gravity (MG). When SNeIa data are combined with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy measurements, we find strong degeneracies between parameters governing the SNeIa systematics, the DE parameters, and the Hubble constant H-0. These degeneracies significantly broaden the DE parameter uncertainties, in some cases leading to O(sigma) shifts in the central values. However, including low-redshift Baryon Acoustic Oscillation and Cosmic Chronometer measurements, as well as CMB lensing measurements, considerably improves the previous constraints, and the only remaining effect of the examined systematic is a less than or similar to 40% broadening of the uncertainties on the DE parameters. The constraints we derive on the MG parameters are instead basically unaffected by the systematic in question. We therefore confirm the overall soundness of dark energy properties.
|
|
