Tim M. P. Tait

Is the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle a viable dark matter candidate?

Abstract In models with universal extra dimensions (i.e., in which all Standard Model fields, including fermions, propagate into compact extra dimensions) momentum conservation in the extra dimensions leads to the conservation of Kaluza–Klein (KK) number at each vertex. KK number is violated by loop effects because of the orbifold imposed to reproduce the chiral Standard Model with zero modes, however, a KK parity remains at any order in perturbation theory which leads to the existence of a stable lightest KK particle (LKP). In addition, the degeneracy in the KK spectrum is lifted by radiative corrections so that all other KK particles eventually decay into the LKP. We investigate cases where the Standard Model lives in five or six dimensions with compactification radius of TeV−1 size and the LKP is the first massive state in the KK tower of either the photon or the neutrino. We derive the relic density of the LKP under a variety of assumptions about the spectrum of first tier KK modes. We find that both the KK photon and the KK neutrino, with masses at the TeV scale, may have appropriate annihilation cross sections to account for the dark matter, Ω M ∼0.3 .

Constraints on Dark Matter from Colliders

We show that colliders can impose strong constraints on models of dark matter, in particular, when the dark matter is light. We analyze models where the dark matter is a fermion or scalar interacting with quarks and/or gluons through an effective theory containing higher dimensional operators which represent heavier states that have been integrated out of the effective field theory. We determine bounds from existing Tevatron searches for monojets as well as expected LHC reaches for a discovery. We find that colliders can provide information which is complementary or in some cases even superior to experiments searching for direct detection of dark matter through its scattering with nuclei. In particular, both the Tevatron and the LHC can outperform spin-dependent searches by an order of magnitude or better over much of the parameter space, and if the dark matter couples mainly to gluons, the LHC can place bounds superior to any spin-independent search.

Constraints on Light Majorana dark Matter from Colliders

Abstract We explore model-independent collider constraints on light Majorana dark matter particles. We find that colliders provide a complementary probe of WIMPs to direct detection, and give the strongest current constraints on light DM particles. Collider experiments can access interactions not probed by direct detection searches, and outperform direct detection experiments by about an order of magnitude for certain operators in a large part of parameter space. For operators which are suppressed at low momentum transfer, collider searches have already placed constraints on such operators limiting their use as an explanation for DAMA.

Four generations and Higgs physics

In the light of the LHC, we revisit the implications of a fourth generation of chiral matter. We identify a specific ensemble of particle masses and mixings that are in agreement with all current experimental bounds as well as minimize the contributions to electroweak precision observables. Higgs masses between 115-315 (115-750) GeV are allowed by electroweak precision data at the 68% and 95% C.L. Within this parameter space, there are dramatic effects on Higgs phenomenology: production rates are enhanced, weak-boson-fusion channels are suppressed, angular distributions are modified, and Higgs pairs can be observed. We also identify exotic signals, such as Higgs decay to same-sign dileptons. Finally, we estimate the upper bound on the cutoff scale from vacuum stability and triviality.

Maverick dark matter at colliders

Assuming that dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) species X produced in the early Universe as a cold thermal relic, we study the collider signal of pp or

Single top quark production as a window to physics beyond the standard model

p\bar{p} \rightarrow \bar{X}X

The Higgs mass bound in gauge extensions of the minimal supersymmetric standard model

+ jets and its distinguishability from standard-model background processes associated with jets and missing energy. We assume that the WIMP is the sole particle related to dark matter within reach of the LHC — a “maverick” particle — and that it couples to quarks through a higher dimensional contact interaction. We simulate the WIMP final-state signal

LHC bounds on interactions of dark matter

X\bar{X}

Simplified models for dark matter searches at the LHC

+ jets and dominant standard-model (SM) background processes and find that the dark-matter production process results in higher energies for the colored final state partons than do the standard-model background processes. As a consequence, the detectable signature of maverick dark matter is an excess over standard-model expectations of events consisting of large missing transverse energy, together with large leading jet transverse momentum and scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the jets. Existing Tevatron data and forthcoming LHC data can constrain (or discover!) maverick dark matter.

Beautiful mirrors and precision electroweak data

Production of single top quarks at a high energy hadron collider is studied as a means to identify physics beyond the standard model related to the electroweak symmetry breaking. The sensitivity of the s-channel W{sup *} mode, the t-channel W-gluon fusion mode, and the tW{sup -} mode to various possible forms of new physics is assessed, and it is found that the three modes are sensitive to different forms of new physics, indicating that they provide complimentary information about the properties of the top quark. Polarization observables are also considered, and found to provide potentially useful information about the structure of the interactions of top quarks.