A. Deandrea

R -PARITY-VIOLATING SUPERSYMMETRY

Theoretical and phenomenological implications of R-parity violation in supersymmetric theories are discussed in the context of particle physics and cosmology. Fundamental aspects include the relation with continuous and discrete symmetries and the various allowed patterns of R-parity breaking. Recent developments on the generation of neutrino masses and mixings within different scenarios of R-parity violation are discussed. The possible contribution of Rparity-violating Yukawa couplings in processes involving virtual supersymmetric particles and the resulting constraints are reviewed. Finally, direct production of supersymmetric particles and their decays in the presence of R-parity-violating couplings is discussed together with a survey of existing constraints from collider experiments. To be submitted to Physics Reports

Heavy quarkonium physics

This report is the result of the collaboration and research effort of the Quarkonium Working Group over the last three years. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in heavy-quarkonium theory and experiment, covering quarkonium spectroscopy, decay, and production, the determination of QCD parameters from quarkonium observables, quarkonia in media, and the effects on quarkonia of physics beyond the Standard Model. An introduction to common theoretical and experimental tools is included. Future opportunities for research in quarkonium physics are also discussed.

Phenomenology of heavy meson chiral Lagrangians

Abstract The approximate symmetries of Quantum ChromoDynamics in the infinite heavy quark (Q = c, b) mass limit (mQ → ∞) and in the chiral limit for the light quarks (mq → 0, q = u, d, s) can be used together to build up an effective chiral lagrangian for heavy and light mesons describing strong interactions among effective meson fields as well as their couplings to electromagnetic and weak currents, including the relevant symmetry-breaking terms. The effective theory includes heavy ( Q q ) mesons of both negative and positive parity, light pseudoscalars, as well as light vector mesons. We summarize the estimates for the parameters entering the effective lagrangian and discuss in particular some phenomenologically important couplings, such as g B ∗ Bπ . The hyperfine splitting of heavy mesons is discussed in detail. The effective lagrangian allows for the possibility to describe consistently weak couplings of heavy (B, D) to light ( π, ϱ, K ∗ , etc. ) mesons. The method has however its own limitations, due to the requirement that the light meson momenta should be small, and we discuss how such limitations can be circumvented through reasonable ansatz on the form factors. Flavour conserving ( e.g. B ∗ → Bγ ) and flavour changing ( e.g. B → K ∗ γ ) radiative decays provide another field of applications of effective lagrangians; they are discussed together with their phenomenological implications. Finally, we analyze effective lagrangians describing heavy charmonium- like (QQ) mesons and their strong and electromagnetic interactions. The role of approximate heavy quark symmetries for this case and the phenomenological tests of these models are also discussed.

Model-independent framework for searches of top partners

We propose a model-independent and general framework to study the LHC phenomenology of top partners, i.e. vector-like quarks including particles with different electromagnetic charge. We consider vector-like quarks embedded in general representations of the weak SU(2) L , coupling to all Standard Model quarks via Yukawa mixing focusing on the case of a single multiplet. We show that, with very minimal and quite general assumptions, top partners may be studied in terms of few parameters in an effective Lagrangian description with a clear and simple connection with experimental observables. We also demonstrate that the parametrisation can be applied as well to cases with many vector-like multiplets, thus covering most realistic models of New Physics. We perform a numerical study to understand the conclusions which can be drawn within such a description and the expected potential for discovery or exclusion at the LHC. Our main results are a clear connection between branching ratios and single production channels, and the identification of novel interesting channels to be studied at the LHC.

A dark matter candidate from Lorentz invariance in 6D

We study the unique 6 dimensional orbifold with chiral fermions where a stable dark matter candidate is present due to Lorentz invariance on the orbifold, with no additional discrete symmetries imposed by hand. We propose a model of Universal Extra Dimensions where a scalar photon of few hundred GeV is a good candidate for dark matter. The spectrum of the model is characteristic of the geometry, and it has clear distinctive features compared to previous models of Kaluza-Klein dark matter. The 5 dimensional limit of this model is the minimal model of natural Kaluza-Klein dark matter. Notwithstanding the low mass range preferred by cosmology, the model will be a challenge for the LHC due to the relatively small splitting between the states in the same KK level.

Two body non-leptonic decays of B and Bs mesons

We perform an analysis of two-body non-leptonic decays of B and Bs mesons in the factorization approximation. We make use of the semileptonic decay amplitudes previously calculated on the basis of an effective lagrangian satisfying chiral and heavy quark symmetries and including spin 1 resonances. Exclusive semileptonic D-decay data are used as experimental input. Our results compare favorably with data, whenever they are available, and indicate a positive value for the ratio of non-leptonic coefficients a2a1, similarly to previous studies.

Bounds and decays of new heavy vector-like top partners

We study the phenomenology of new heavy vector-like fermions that couple to the third generation quarks via Yukawa interactions, covering all the allowed representations under the standard model gauge groups. We first review tree and loop level bounds on these states. We then discuss tree level decays and loop-induced decays to photon or gluon plus top. The main decays at tree level are to Wb and/ or Z and Higgs plus top via the new Yukawa couplings. The radiative loop decays turn out to be quite close to the naive estimate: in all cases, in the allowed perturbative parameter space, the branching ratios are mildly sensitive on the new Yukawa couplings and small. We therefore conclude that the new states can be observed at the LHC and that the tree level decays can allow to distinguish the different representations. Moreover, the observation of the radiative decays at the LHC would suggest a large Yukawa coupling in the non-perturbative regime.

A Constituent quark meson model for heavy meson processes

We describe the effective heavy meson lagrangian for S- and P-wave heavy-light mesons in terms of a model based on meson-quark interactions, where mesonic transition amplitudes are represented by diagrams with heavy mesons attached to loops containing heavy and light constituent quarks. The model is relativistic and incorporates the heavy quark symmetries. The universal form factors of the heavy meson transition amplitudes are calculated together with their slopes and compared to existing data and limits. As further applications of the model, strong and radiative decays of D* and B* are considered. The agreement with data is surprisingly good and shows that the model offers a viable alternative to effective meson lagrangians which require a larger number of input parameters.

Framework for model independent analyses of multiple extra quark scenarios

A bstractIn this paper we present an analysis strategy and a dedicated tool to determine the exclusion confidence level for any scenario involving multiple heavy extra quarks with generic decay channels, as predicted in several extensions of the Standard Model. We have created, validated and used a software package, called XQCAT (eXtra Quark Combined Analysis Tool), which is based on publicly available experimental data from direct searches for top partners and from Supersymmetry inspired searches. By means of this code, we recast the limits from CMS on new heavy extra quarks considering a complete set of decay channels. The resulting exclusion confidence levels are presented for some simple scenarios with multiple states and general coupling assumptions. Highlighting the importance of combining multiple topology searches to obtain accurate re-interpretations of the existing searches, we discuss the reach of the SUSY analyses so as to set bounds on new quark resonances. In particular, we report on the re-interpretation of the existing limits on benchmark scenarios with one and multiple pair-produced top partners having non-exclusive couplings to the third Standard Model generation of quarks.

Nearby resonances beyond the Breit-Wigner approximation

We consider a description of propagators for particle resonances which takes into account the quantum-mechanical interference due to the width of two or more nearby states that have common decay channels, by incorporating the effects arising from the imaginary parts of the one-loop self-energies. Depending on the couplings to the common decay channels, the interference effect, not taken into account in the usual Breit–Wigner approximation, can significantly modify the cross section or make the more long-lived resonance narrower. We give few examples of New Physics models for which the effect is sizable, namely a generic two and multiple Higgs model and neutral vector resonances in Higgsless models. Based on these results we suggest the implementation of a proper treatment of nearby resonances into Monte Carlo generators.