Hsin-Chia Cheng

Bounds on universal extra dimensions

We show that the bound from the electroweak data on the size of extra dimensions accessible to all the standard model elds is rather loose. These universal extra dimensions could have a compactication scale as low as 300 GeV for one extra dimension. This is because the Kaluza-Klein number is conserved and thus the contributions to the electroweak observables arise only from loops. The main constraint comes from weak-isospin violation eects. We also compute the contributions to the S parameter and the Zb b vertex. The direct bound on the compactication scale is set by CDF and D0 in the few hundred GeV range, and the Run II of the Tevatron will either discover extra dimensions or else it could signicantly raise the bound on the compactication scale. In the case of two universal extra dimensions, the current lower bound on the compactication scale depends logarithmically on the ultra-violet cuto of the higher dimensional theory, but can be estimated to lie between 400 and 800 GeV. With three or more extra dimensions, the cuto dependence may be too strong to allow an estimate.

Ghost condensation and a consistent infrared modification of gravity

We propose a theoretically consistent modification of gravity in the infrared, which is compatible with all current experimental observations. This is an analog of the Higgs mechanism in general relativity, and can be thought of as arising from ghost condensation — a background where a scalar field has a constant velocity, = M2. The ghost condensate is a new kind of fluid that can fill the universe, which has the same equation of state, ρ = −p, as a cosmological constant, and can hence drive de Sitter expansion of the universe. However, unlike a cosmological constant, it is a physical fluid with a physical scalar excitation, which can be described by a systematic effective field theory at low energies. The excitation has an unusual low-energy dispersion relation ω2 ~ 4/M2. If coupled to matter directly, it gives rise to small Lorentz-violating effects and a new long-range 1/r2 spin dependent force. In the ghost condensate, the energy that gravitates is not the same as the particle physics energy, leading to the possibility of both sources that can gravitate and anti-gravitate. The newtonian potential is modified with an oscillatory behavior starting at the distance scale MPl/M2 and the time scale MPl2/M3. This theory opens up a number of new avenues for attacking cosmological problems, including inflation, dark matter and dark energy.

TeV symmetry and the little hierarchy problem

Constraints from precision electroweak measurements reveal no evidence for new physics up to 5–7 TeV, whereas naturalness requires new particles at around 1 TeV to address the stability of the electroweak scale. We show that this ``little hierarchy problem can be cured by introducing a symmetry for new particles at the TeV scale. As an example, we construct a little Higgs model with this new symmetry, dubbed T-parity, which naturally solves the little hierarchy problem and, at the same time, stabilize the electroweak scale up to 10 TeV. The model has many important phenomenological consequences, including consistency with the precision data without any fine-tuning, a stable weakly-interacting particle as the dark matter candidate, as well as collider signals completely different from existing little Higgs models, but rather similar to the supersymmetric theories with conserved R-parity.

Kaluza-Klein dark matter

We propose that cold dark matter is made of Kaluza-Klein particles and explore avenues for its detection. The lightest Kaluza-Klein state is an excellent dark matter candidate if standard model particles propagate in extra dimensions and Kaluza-Klein parity is conserved. We consider Kaluza-Klein gauge bosons. In sharp contrast to the case of supersymmetric dark matter, these annihilate to hard positrons, neutrinos, and photons with unsuppressed rates. Direct detection signals are also promising. These conclusions are generic to bosonic dark matter candidates.

Radiative corrections to Kaluza-Klein masses

Extra-dimensional theories contain a number of almost degenerate states at each Kaluza-Klein level. If extra dimensional momentum is at least approximately conserved then the phenomenology of such nearly degenerate states depends crucially on the mass splittings between KK modes. We calculate the complete one-loop radiative corrections to KK masses in general 5 and 6 dimensional theories. We apply our formulae to the example of universal extra dimensions and show that the radiative corrections are essential to any meaningful study of the phenomenology. Our calculations demonstrate that Feynman diagrams with loops wrapping the extra dimensions are well-defined and cut-off independent even though higher dimensional theories are not renormalizable.

Little hierarchy, little Higgses, and a little symmetry

Little Higgs theories are an attempt to address the ``little hierarchy problem, i.e., the tension between the naturalness of the electroweak scale and the precision electroweak measurements showing no evidence for new physics up to 5 – 10 TeV. In little Higgs theories, the Higgs mass-squareds are protected at one-loop order from the quadratic divergences. This allows the cutoff of the theory to be raised up to ~ 10 TeV, beyond the scales probed by the current precision data. However, strong constraints can still arise from the contributions of the new TeV scale particles which cancel the one-loop quadratic divergences from the standard model fields, and hence re-introduces the fine-tuning problem. In this paper we show that a new symmetry, denoted as T-parity, under which all heavy gauge bosons and scalar triplets are odd, can remove all the tree-level contributions to the electroweak observables and therefore makes the little Higgs theories completely natural. The T-parity can be manifestly implemented in a majority of little Higgs models by following the most general construction of the low energy effective theory a la Callan, Coleman, Wess and Zumino. In particular, we discuss in detail how to implement the T-parity in the littlest Higgs model based on SU(5)/SO(5). The symmetry breaking scale f can be even lower than 500 GeV if the contributions from the higher dimensional operators due to the unknown UV physics at the cutoff are somewhat small. The existence of T-parity has drastic impacts on the phenomenology of the little Higgs theories. The T-odd particles need to be pair-produced and will cascade down to the lightest T-odd particle (LTP) which is stable. A neutral LTP gives rise to missing energy signals at the colliders which can mimic supersymmetry. It can also serve as a good dark matter candidate.

Minimal kinematic constraints and mT2

We clarify the relation between the variable mT2 and the method of kinematic constraints, both of which can be used for mass determination in events with two missing (dark matter) particles at hadron colliders. We identify a set of minimal kinematic constraints, including the mass shell conditions for the missing particles and their mother particles, as well as the constraint from the measured missing transverse momentum. We show that mT2 is the boundary of the mass region consistent with the minimal constraints. From this point of view, we also obtained a more efficient algorithm for calculating mT2. When more constraints are available in the events, we can develop more sophisticated mass determination methods starting from the mT2 constraint. In particular, we discuss cases when each decay chain contains two visible particles.

Mass determination in SUSY-like events with missing energy

We describe a kinematic method which is capable of determining the overall mass scale in SUSY-like events at a hadron collider with two missing (dark matter) particles. We focus on the kinematic topology in which a pair of identical particles is produced with each decaying to two leptons and an invisible particle (schematically, pp → YY+jets followed by each Y decaying via Y → lX → llN where N is invisible). This topology arises in many SUSY processes such as squark and gluino production and decay, not to mention t di-lepton decays. In the example where the final state leptons are all muons, our errors on the masses of the particles Y, X and N in the decay chain range from 4 GeV for 2000 events after cuts to 13 GeV for 400 events after cuts. Errors for mass differences are much smaller. Our ability to determine masses comes from considering all the kinematic information in the event, including the missing momentum, in conjunction with the quadratic constraints that arise from the Y, X and N mass-shell conditions. Realistic missing momentum and lepton momenta uncertainties are included in the analysis.

Accurate Mass Determinations in Decay Chains with Missing Energy

Many beyond the standard model theories include a stable dark matter candidate that yields missing or invisible energy in collider detectors. If observed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, we must determine if its mass and other properties (and those of its partners) predict the correct dark matter relic density. We give a new procedure for determining its mass with small error.

Stop the Top Background of the Stop Search

A bstractThe main background for the supersymmetric stop direct production search comes from Standard Model