Jared A. Evans

Minimal conformal technicolor and precision electroweak tests

We study the minimal model of conformal technicolor, an SU(2) gauge theory near a strongly coupled conformal fixed point, with conformal symmetry softly broken by technifermion mass terms. Conformal symmetry breaking triggers chiral symmetry breaking in the pattern SU(4) → Sp(4), which gives rise to a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson that can act as a composite Higgs boson. The top quark is elementary, and the top and electroweak gauge loop contributions to the Higgs mass are cut off entirely by Higgs compositeness. In particular, the model requires no top partners and no “little Higgs” mechanism. A nontrivial vacuum alignment results from the interplay of the top loop and technifermion mass terms. The composite Higgs mass is completely determined by the top loop, in the sense that mh/mt is independent of the vacuum alignment and is computable by a strong-coupling calculation. There is an additional composite pseudoscalar A with mass larger than mh and suppressed direct production at LHC. We discuss the electroweak fit in this model in detail. Corrections to

LHC coverage of RPV MSSM with light stops

Z \to \bar{b}b

Toward Full LHC Coverage of Natural Supersymmetry

and the T parameter from the top sector are suppressed by the enhanced Sp(4) custodial symmetry. Even assuming that the strong contribution to the S parameter is positive and usuppressed, a good electroweak fit can be obtained for v/f ≲ 0.25, where v and f are the electroweak and chiral symmetry breaking scales respectively. This requires fine tuning at the 10% level.

Surveying extended GMSB models with m h = 125 GeV

A bstractWe examine the sensitivity of recent LHC searches to signatures of supersymmetry with R-parity violation (RPV). Motivated by naturalness of the Higgs potential, which would favor light third-generation squarks, and the stringent LHC bounds on spectra in which the gluino or first and second generation squarks are light, we focus on scenarios dominated by the pair production of light stops. We consider the various possible direct and cascade decays of the stop that involve the trilinear RPV operators. We find that in many cases, the existing searches exclude stops in the natural mass range and beyond. However, typically there is little or no sensitivity to cases dominated by UDD operators or LQD operators involving taus. We propose several ideas for searches which could address the existing gaps in experimental coverage of these signals.

Multi-lepton signals of multiple Higgs bosons

A bstractWe argue that combining just a handful of searches for new physics at Run I of the LHC is sufficient to exclude most supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model in which the gluino is kinematically accessible and the spectrum is natural. Such models typically give rise to significant T , top quarks and/or high object multiplicity, and we show that having even one of these signatures generally results in stringent limits. We also identify, among models that lack these signatures, the few gaps in coverage remaining, and propose search strategies to close these gaps. Our results are general and independent of the details of the spectrum, assumptions about minimality, R-parity, etc. Our analysis strategy should remain applicable when the LHC moves to higher energy. Central to our argument are ATLAS and CMS searches for many jets and low T , a proposed lepton + many jets search, an ATLAS search for 6-7 high-pT jets, and a reexamination of the control and signal regions of the CMS black hole search.

Searching for t → c h with multileptons

A bstractIn order to achieve maximal stop mixing and mh = 125 GeV, we consider extensions of minimal GMSB that include marginal MSSM-messenger superpotential interactions. Using a new approach to analytic continuation in superspace, we derive general formulas for the soft masses in the presence of such interactions, correctly taking into account the role of MSSM-messenger mixing in a general framework for the first time. We classify and catalog all possible such interactions consistent with perturbative SU(5) unification, and we survey the impact of turning on one interaction at a time, from the point of view of fine tuning, spectrum and phenomenology. We find that the best models are fine-tuned to the sub-percent level and are accessible at the 14 TeV LHC. We highlight potential search strategies that can probe the characteristic spectra of these models.

Long-lived staus and displaced leptons at the LHC

A bstractWe identify and investigate novel multi-lepton signatures of extended Higgs sectors at the LHC in the guise of CP- and flavor-conserving two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs). Rather than designing individual searches tailored to specific 2HDM signals, we employ the combination of many exclusive multi-lepton search channels to probe the collective signal from the totality of production and decay processes. Multi-lepton signals of 2HDMs can arise from a variety of sources, including Standard Model-like production of the CP-even scalars, h and H, through gluon-fusion with h, H → ZZ(∗), or associated production with vector bosons or top quarks, with h, H → WW(∗), ZZ(∗), ττ. Additional sources include gluon-fusion production of the heavy CP-even scalar with cascade decays through the light CP-even scalar, the CP-odd scalar, A, or the charged scalar, H±, such as H → hh, H → AA, H → H+H−, H → ZA, with A → Zh, ττ, H± → Wh, and h → WW∗, ZZ∗, ττ. Altogether, the combined multi-lepton signal may greatly exceed that of the Standard Model Higgs boson and provides a sensitive probe of extended Higgs sectors over a wide range of parameters. As a proof of principle, we use a factorized mapping procedure between model parameters and signatures to determine multi-lepton sensitivities in four different flavor conserving 2HDM parameter spaces by simulating the acceptance times efficiency in 20 exclusive multi-lepton channels for 222 independent production and decay topologies that arise for four benchmark 2HDM spectra within each parameter space. A comparison of these sensitivities with the results of a multi-lepton search conducted by the CMS collaboration using 5 fb−1 of data collected from 7 TeV pp collisions yields new limits in some regions of 2HDM parameter space that have not previously been covered by other types of direct experimental searches.

Chiral flavor violation from extended gauge mediation

The results of a multi-lepton search conducted by the CMS collaboration with 5 fb

Searching for

^{-1}

t \to c h

of data collected from 7 TeV