Stephen Mrenna

A Brief Introduction to PYTHIA 8.1

Abstract in Undetermined The PYTHIA program is a standard tool for the generation of high-energy collisions, comprising a coherent set of physics models for the evolution from a few-body hard process to a complex multihadronic final state. It contains a library of hard processes and models for initial-and final-state parton showers, multiple parton-parton interactions, beam remnants, string fragmentation and particle decays. It also has a set of utilities and interfaces to external programs. While previous versions were written in Fortran, PYTHIA 8 represents a complete rewrite in C++. The current release is the first main one after this transition, and does not yet in every respect replace the old code. It does contain some new physics aspects, on the other hand, that should make it an attractive option especially for LHC physics studies. (Less)

An introduction to PYTHIA 8.2

The Pythia program is a standard tool for the generation of events in high-energy collisions, comprising a coherent set of physics models for the evolution from a few-body hard process to a complex multiparticle final state. It contains a library of hard processes, models for initial- and final-state parton showers, matching and merging methods between hard processes and parton showers, multiparton interactions, beam remnants, string fragmentation and particle decays. It also has a set of utilities and several interfaces to external programs. Pythia 8.2 is the second main release after the complete rewrite from Fortran to C++, and now has reached such a maturity that it offers a complete replacement for most applications, notably for LHC physics studies. The many new features should allow an improved description of data.

The Snowmass points and slopes: Benchmarks for SUSY searches

Abstract. The ”Snowmass Points and Slopes” (SPS) are a set of benchmark points and parameter lines in the MSSM parameter space corresponding to different scenarios in the search for Supersymmetry at present and future experiments. This set of benchmarks was agreed upon at the 2001 ”Snowmass Workshop on the Future of Particle Physics” as a consensus based on different existing proposals.

Simplified models for dark matter searches at the LHC

This document outlines a set of simplified models for dark matter and its interactions with Standard Model particles. It is intended to summarize the main characteristics that these simplified models have when applied to dark matter searches at the LHC, and to provide a number of useful expressions for reference. The list of models includes both s-channel and t-channel scenarios. For s-channel, spin-0 and spin-1 mediation is discussed, and also realizations where the Higgs particle provides a portal between the dark and visible sectors. The guiding principles underpinning the proposed simplified models are spelled out, and some suggestions for implementation are presented.

MSSM Higgs boson phenomenology at the Fermilab Tevatron collider

The Higgs sector of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) consists of five physical Higgs bosons, which offer a variety of channels for their experimental search. In this study, we clarify the sensitivity of the future Fermilab Tevatron searches for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons in several channels as a function of the pseudoscalar mass M{sub A},tan{beta}, and the properties of the top and bottom squarks. We place special emphasis on the radiative corrections to the down-type quark and lepton couplings to the Higgs bosons for large tan {beta}, and how they effect production cross sections and branching ratios.

Search for supersymmetry with a light gravitino at the Fermilab Tevatron and CERN LEP colliders

We analyze the prospects for discovering supersymmetry at the Fermilab Tevatron and CERN LEP colliders in the scenario that the lightest supersymmetric particle is a gravitino of mass {approx_lt}1 keV. We consider in particular the case that the lightest neutralino has a nearly 100{percent} branching fraction into gravitino+photon within the detector. This implies that supersymmetric events should contain both missing (transverse) energy and two energetic photons. Therefore, one can search for supersymmetry simply through inclusive production of superpartners. We consider the exclusion and reach capabilities of the Tevatron in exploring the supersymmetric parameter space, and study the efficiencies which can be achieved in this search. We also consider the discovery reach and backgrounds at LEP with {radical}{ital s}=160, 175, and 190 GeV. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

MARMOSET: The Path from LHC Data to the New Standard Model via On-Shell Effective Theories

We describe a coherent strategy and set of tools for reconstructing the fundamental theory of the TeV scale from LHC data. We show that On-Shell Effective Theories (OSETs) effectively characterize hadron collider data in terms of masses, production cross sections, and decay modes of candidate new particles. An OSET description of the data strongly constrains the underlying new physics, and sharply motivates the construction of its Lagrangian. Simulating OSETs allows efficient analysis of new-physics signals, especially when they arise from complicated production and decay topologies. To this end, we present MARMOSET, a Monte Carlo tool for simulating the OSET version of essentially any new-physics model. MARMOSET enables rapid testing of theoretical hypotheses suggested by both data and model-building intuition, which together chart a path to the underlying theory. We illustrate this process by working through a number of data challenges, where the most important features of TeV-scale physics are reconstructed with as little as 5 fb{sup -1} of simulated LHC signals.

Parton Distributions for Event Generators

In this paper, conventional global QCD analysis is generalized to produce parton distribution functions (PDFs) optimized for use with event generators at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This optimization is accomplished by complementing usual constraints on the PDFs from the existing hard-scattering experimental data with those needed to reproduce cross sections for key scattering processes at the LHC, as predicted by the best available theory, in the joint input to the global analysis. With the optimized PDFs, predictions obtained by event generators at a given order in the QCD coupling strength reproduce the representative LHC cross sections computed at one higher order. In the present study, the optimized PDFs for leading-order event generators were developed. Several optimization strategies and resulting candidate PDF sets (labeled as CT09MCS, CT09MC1 and CT09MC2) are compared with those from other approaches.

The Collider phenomenology of technihadrons in the technicolor straw man model

We discuss the phenomenology of the lightest SU(3)C singlet and non-singlet technihadrons in the Straw Man Model of low-scale technicolor (TCSM). The technihadrons are assumed to be those arising in topcolor–assisted technicolor models in which topcolor is broken by technifermion condensates. We improve upon the description of the color–singlet sector presented in our earlier paper introducing the TCSM (hep-ph/9903369). These improvements are most important √   

Combined CDF and D0 Upper Limits on MSSM Higgs Boson Production in tau-tau Final States with up to 2.2 fb-1

Combined results are presented on the search for a neutral Higgs boson in the di-tau final state using 1.8 fb{sup -1} and 2.2 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected at the CDF and D0 experiments respectively. Data were collected in p{bar p} collisions at a centre of mass energy of 1.96 TeV during RunII of the Tevatron. Limits are set on the cross section x branching ratio ranging from 13.6 pb to 0.653 pb for Higgs masses from 90 GeV to 200 GeV respectively. The results are then interpreted as limits in four different benchmark scenarios within the framework of the MSSM.