Björn Herrmann

Squark and gaugino hadroproduction and decays in non-minimal flavour violating supersymmetry

Abstract We present an extensive analysis of squark and gaugino hadroproduction and decays in non-minimal flavour violating supersymmetry. We employ the so-called super-CKM basis to define the possible misalignment of quark and squark rotations, and we use generalized (possibly complex) charges to define the mutual couplings of (s)quarks and gauge bosons/gauginos. The cross sections for all squark–(anti-)squark/gaugino pair and squark-gaugino associated production processes as well as their decay widths are then given in compact analytic form. For four different constrained supersymmetry breaking models with non-minimal flavour violation in the second/third generation squark sector only, we establish the parameter space regions allowed/favoured by low-energy, electroweak precision, and cosmological constraints and display the chirality and flavour decomposition of all up- and down-type squark mass eigenstates. Finally, we compute numerically the dependence of a representative sample of production cross sections at the LHC on the off-diagonal mass matrix elements in the experimentally allowed/favoured ranges.

Flavour Violation in Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking Models: Experimental Constraints and Phenomenology at the LHC

We present an extensive analysis of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models with minimal and non-minimal flavour violation. We first demonstrate that low-energy, precision electroweak, and cosmological constraints exclude large “collider-friendly” regions of the minimal parameter space. We then discuss various possibilities how flavour violation, although naturally suppressed, may still occur in gauge-mediation models. The introduction of non-minimal flavour violation at the electroweak scale is shown to relax the stringent experimental constraints, so that benchmark points, that are also cosmologically viable, can be defined and their phenomenology, i.e. squark and gaugino production cross sections with flavour violation, at the LHC can be studied.

Phenomenology of anomaly-mediated supersymmetry-breaking scenarios with nonminimal flavor violation

In minimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking models, tachyonic sleptons are avoided by introducing a common scalar mass similar to the one introduced in minimal supergravity. This may lead to non-minimal flavour-violating interactions, e.g., in the squark sector. In this paper, we analyze the viable anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking parameter space in the light of the latest limits on low-energy observables and LHC searches, complete our analytical calculations of flavour-violating supersymmetric particle production at hadron colliders with those related to gluino production, and study the phenomenological consequences of non-minimal flavour violation in anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenarios at the LHC. Related cosmological aspects are also briefly discussed.

Precise Prediction of the Dark Matter Relic Density within the MSSM

With the latest Planck results the dark matter relic density is determined to an unprecedented precision. In order to reduce current theoretical uncertainties in the dark matter relic density prediction, we have calculated next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections to neutralino (co)annihilation processes including Coulomb enhancement effects. We demonstrate that these corrections can have significant impact on the cosmologically favoured MSSM parameter space and are thus of general interest for parameter studies and global fits.

Flavour violating squark and gluino decays at LHC

We study the effects of squark generation mixing on squark and gluino production and decays at LHC in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with focus on the mixing between second and third generation squarks. Taking into account the constraints from B-physics experiments we show that various regions in parameter space exist where decays of squarks and/or gluinos into quark flavour violating (QFV) final states can have large branching ratios. Here we consider both fermionic and bosonic decays of squarks. Rates of the corresponding QFV signals, e.g. pp -> t t bar{c} bar{c} missing-E_T X, can be significant at LHC(14 TeV). We find that the inclusion of flavour mixing effects can be important for the search of squarks and gluinos and the determination of the underlying model parameters of the MSSM at LHC.

Impact of SUSY-QCD corrections on neutralino-stop co-annihilation and the neutralino relic density

We have calculated the full O(as) supersymmetric QCD corrections to neutralino-stop coannihilation into electroweak vector and Higgs bosons within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). We performed a parameter study within the phenomenological MSSM and demonstrated that the studied co-annihilation processes are phenomenologically relevant, especially in the context of a 126 GeV Higgs-like particle. By means of an example scenario we discuss the effect of the full next-to-leading order corrections on the co-annihilation cross section and show their impact on the predicted neutralino relic density. We demonstrate that the impact of these corrections on the cosmologically preferred region of parameter space is larger than the current experimental uncertainty of WMAP data.

Exploring the squark flavour structure of the MSSM

We present an extensive study of the MSSM parameter space allowing for general generation mixing in the squark sector. Employing an MCMC algorithm, we establish the parameter ranges which are allowed with respect to various experimental and theoretical constraints. Based on this analysis, we propose benchmark scenarios for future studies. Moreover, we discuss aspects of signatures at the LHC.

Predicting the neutralino relic density in the MSSM more precisely

The dark matter relic density being a powerful observable to constrain models of new physics, the recent experimental progress calls for more precise theoretical predictions. On the particle physics side, improvements are to be made in the calculation of the (co)annihilation cross-section of the dark matter particle. We present the project DM@NLO which aims at calculating the neutralino (co)annihilation cross-section in the MSSM including radiative corrections in QCD. In the present document, we briefly review selected results for different (co)annihilation processes. We then discuss the estimation of the associated theory uncertainty obtained by varying the renormalization scale. Finally, perspectives are discussed.

Interplay of gaugino (co)annihilation processes in the context of a precise relic density calculation

The latest Planck data allow one to determine the dark matter relic density with previously unparalleled precision. In order to achieve a comparable precision on the theory side, we have calculated the full O(αs) corrections to the most relevant annihilation and coannihilation processes for relic density calculations within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The interplay of these processes is discussed. The impact of the radiative corrections on the resulting relic density is found to be larger than the experimental uncertainty of the Planck data.