Ahmed Ismail

Higgs sector and fine-tuning in the phenomenological MSSM

The recent discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs, as well as the lack of any positive findings in searches for supersymmetry, has renewed interest in both the supersymmetric Higgs sector and fine-tuning. Here, we continue our study of the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM), discussing the light Higgs and fine-tuning within the context of two sets of previously generated pMSSM models. We find an abundance of models with experimentally-favored Higgs masses and couplings. We investigate the decay modes of the light Higgs in these models, finding strong correlations between many final states. We then examine the degree of fine-tuning, considering contributions from each of the pMSSM parameters at up to next-to-leading-log order. In particular, we examine the fine-tuning implications for our model sets that arise from the discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs. Finally, we investigate a small subset of models with low fine-tuning and a light Higgs near 125 GeV, describing the common features of such models. We generically find a light stop and bottom with complex decay patterns into a set of light electroweak gauginos, which will make their discovery more challenging and may require novel search techniques. ∗Work supported by the Department of Energy, Contract DE-AC02-76SF00515 †email: mrowley, hewett, aismail, rizzo@slac.stanford.edu ar X iv :1 20 6. 58 00 v2 [ he pph ] 7 J ul 2 01 2

A Little Solution to the Little Hierarchy Problem: A Vector-like Generation

We present a simple solution to the little hierarchy problem in the minimal supersymmetric standard model: a vectorlike fourth generation. With O(1) Yukawa couplings for the new quarks, the Higgs mass can naturally be above 114 GeV. Unlike a chiral fourth generation, a vectorlike generation can solve the little hierarchy problem while remaining consistent with precision electroweak and direct production constraints, and maintaining the success of the grand unified framework. The new quarks are predicted to lie between 300-600 GeV and will thus be discovered or ruled out at the LHC. This scenario suggests exploration of several novel collider signatures.

Complementarity of dark matter searches in the phenomenological MSSM

As is well known, the search for and eventual identification of dark matter in supersymmetry requires a simultaneous, multi-pronged approach with important roles played by the LHC as well as both direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments. We examine the capabilities of these approaches in the 19-parameter p(henomenological)MSSM which provides a general framework for complementarity studies of neutralino dark matter. We summarize the sensitivity of dark matter searches at the 7, 8 (and eventually 14) TeV LHC, combined with those by \Fermi, CTA, IceCube/DeepCore, COUPP, LZ and XENON. The strengths and weaknesses of each of these techniques are examined and contrasted and their interdependent roles in covering the model parameter space are discussed in detail. We find that these approaches explore orthogonal territory and that advances in each are necessary to cover the Supersymmetric WIMP parameter space. We also find that different experiments have widely varying sensitivities to the various dark matter annihilation mechanisms, some of which would be completely excluded by null results from these experiments.

Lessons and prospects from the pMSSM after LHC Run I

We study SUSY signatures at the 7, 8 and 14 TeV LHC employing the 19-parameter, R-Parity conserving p(henomenological)MSSM, in the scenario with a neutralino LSP. Our results were obtained via a fast Monte Carlo simulation of the ATLAS SUSY analysis suite. The flexibility of this framework allows us to study a wide variety of SUSY phenomena simultaneously and to probe for weak spots in existing SUSY search analyses. We determine the ranges of the sparticle masses that are either disfavored or allowed after the searches with the 7 and 8 TeV data sets are combined. We find that natural SUSY models with light squarks and gluinos remain viable. We extrapolate to 14 TeV with both 300 fb

What’s in the loop? The anatomy of double Higgs production

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Redux on “When is the top quark a parton?”

and 3 ab

ATLAS Z + missing transverse energy excess in the MSSM

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Higgs boson coupling measurements and direct searches as complementary probes of the phenomenological MSSM

of integrated luminosity and determine the expected sensitivity of the jets + MET and stop searches to the pMSSM parameter space. We find that the high-luminosity LHC will be powerful in probing SUSY with neutralino LSPs and can provide a more definitive statement on the existence of natural Supersymmetry.

Same-sign dilepton excesses and light top squarks

Determination of Higgs self-interactions through the double Higgs production from gluon fusion is a major goal of current and future collider experiments. We point out this channel could help disentangle and resolve the nature of ultraviolet contributions to Higgs couplings to two gluons. Analytic properties of the double Higgs amplitudes near kinematic threshold are used to study features resulting from scalar and fermionic loop particles mediating the interaction. Focusing on the hh invariant mass spectrum, we consider the effect from anomalous top and bottom Yukawa couplings, as well as from scalar and fermionic loop particles. In particular, the spectrum at high hh invariant mass is sensitive to the spin of the particles in the loop.

Illuminating New Electroweak States at Hadron Colliders

This is the copy of an article published in the Physical Review C @ 2014 American Physical Society Publications. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.90.014005