Superpartner mass measurement technique using 1D orthogonal decompositions of the Cambridge transverse mass variable M(T2).
We propose a new model-independent technique for mass measurements in missing energy events at hadron colliders. We illustrate our method with the most challenging case of a single-step decay chain. We consider inclusive same-sign chargino pair production in supersymmetry, followed by leptonic decays to sneutrinos χ+ χ+ → ℓ+ ℓ'+ ν(ℓ)ν(ℓ') and invisible decays ν(ℓ) → ν(ℓ) χ(1)(0). We introduce two one-dimensional decompositions of the Cambridge MT2 variable: M(T2∥) and M(T2⊥), on the direction of the upstream transverse momentum P→T and the direction orthogonal to it, respectively. We show that the sneutrino mass Mc can be measured directly by minimizing the number of events N(Mc) in which MT2 exceeds a certain threshold, conveniently measured from the end point M(T2⊥)(max) (Mc).

title: Dark matter particle spectroscopy at the LHC: generalizing MT2 to asymmetric event topologies
abstract: We consider SUSY-like missing energy events at hadron colliders and critically examine the common assumption that the missing energy is the result of two identical missing particles. In order to experimentally test this hypothesis, we generalize the subsystem MT2 variable to the case of asymmetric event topologies, where the two SUSY decay chains terminate in different “children” particles. In this more general approach, the endpoint MT2(max) of the MT2 distribution now gives the mass $$ {\tilde M_p}\left( {\tilde M_c^{(a)},\tilde M_c^{(b)}} \right) $$ of the parent particles as a function of two input children masses $$ \tilde M_c^{(a)} $$ and $$ \tilde M_c^{(b)} $$. We propose two methods for an independent determination of the individual children masses M(a)c and M(b)c. First, in the presence of upstream transverse momentum PUTM the corresponding function $$ {\tilde M_p}\left( {\tilde M_c^{(a)},\tilde M_c^{(b)},{P_{\text{UTM}}}} \right) $$ is independent of PUTM at precisely the right values of the children masses. Second, the previously discussed MT2 “kink” is now generalized to a “ridge” on the 2-dimensional surface $$ {\tilde M_p}\left( {\tilde M_c^{(a)},\tilde M_c^{(b)}} \right) $$. As we show in several examples, quite often there is a special point along that ridge which marks the true values of the children masses. Our results allow collider experiments to probe a multi-component dark matter sector directly and without any theoretical prejudice.

title: The role of interference in unraveling the ZZ-couplings of the newly discovered boson at the LHC
abstract: We present a general procedure for measuring the tensor structure of the coupling of the scalar Higgs-like boson recently discovered at the LHC to two Z bosons, including the effects of interference among different operators. To motivate our concern with this interference, we explore the parameter space of the couplings in the effective theory describing these interactions and illustrate the effects of interference on the differential dilepton mass distributions. Kinematic discriminants for performing coupling measurements that utilize the effects of interference are developed and described. We present projections for the sensitivity of coupling measurements that use these discriminants in future LHC operation in a variety of physics scenarios.

title: Tuning supersymmetric models at the LHC: a comparative analysis at two-loop level.
abstract: A bstractWe provide a comparative study of the fine tuning amount (Δ) at the two-loop leading log level in supersymmetric models commonly used in SUSY searches at the LHC. These are the constrained MSSM (CMSSM), non-universal Higgs masses models (NUHM1, NUHM2), non-universal gaugino masses model (NUGM) and GUT related gaugino masses models (NUGMd). Two definitions of the fine tuning are used, the first (Δmax) measures maximal fine-tuning w.r.t. individual parameters while the second (Δq) adds their contribution in “quadrature”. As a direct consequence of two theoretical constraints (the EW minimum conditions), fine tuning (Δq) emerges at the mathematical level as a suppressing factor (effective prior) of the averaged likelihood ($ L $) under the priors, under the integral of the global probability of measuring the data (Bayesian evidence p(D)). For each model, there is little difference between Δq, Δmax in the region allowed by the data, with similar behaviour as functions of the Higgs, gluino, stop mass or SUSY scale ($ {m_{\text{SUSY}}} = {\left( {{m_{{\overline t 1}}}{m_{{\overline t 2}}}} \right)^{{{{1} \left/ {2} \right.}}}} $) or dark matter and g − 2 constraints. The analysis has the advantage that by replacing any of these mass scales or constraints by their latest bounds one easily infers for each model the value of Δq, Δmax or vice versa. For all models, minimal fine tuning is achieved for Mhiggs near 115 GeV with a Δq ≈ Δmax ≈ 10 to 100 depending on the model, and in the CMSSM this is actually a global minimum. Due to a strong (≈ exponential) dependence of Δ on Mhiggs, for a Higgs mass near 125 GeV, the above values of Δq ≈ Δmax increase to between 500 and 1000. Possible corrections to these values are briefly discussed.

title: Precise reconstruction of sparticle masses without ambiguities
abstract: We critically reexamine the standard applications of the method of kinematical endpoints for sparticle mass determination. We consider the typical decay chain in supersymmetry (SUSY) ? 02 ? ? 01, which yields a jet j, and two leptons ?n? and ?f. The conventional approaches use the upper kinematical endpoints of the individual distributions mj??, mj?(lo) = min {mj?n,mj?f} and mj?(hi) = max {mj?n,mj?f}, all three of which suffer from parameter space region ambiguities and may lead to multiple solutions for the SUSY mass spectrum. In contrast, we do not use mj??, mj?(lo) and mj?(hi), and instead propose a new set of (infinitely many) variables whose upper kinematic endpoints exhibit reduced sensitivity to the parameter space region. We then outline an alternative, much simplified procedure for obtaining the SUSY mass spectrum. In particular, we show that the four endpoints observed in the three distributions m2??, m2j?n?m2j?f and m2j?n+m2j?f are sufficient to completely pin down the squark mass m and the two neutralino masses m02 and m01, leaving only a discrete 2-fold ambiguity for the slepton mass m. This remaining ambiguity can be easily resolved in a number of different ways: for example, by a single additional measurement of the kinematic endpoint of any one out of the many remaining 1-dimensional distributions at our disposal, or by exploring the correlations in the 2-dimensional distribution of m2j?n?m2j?f versus m2??. We illustrate our method with two examples: the LM1 and LM6 CMS study points. An additional advantage of our method is the expected improvement in the accuracy of the SUSY mass determination, due to the multitude and variety of available measurements.

title: Spin effects in the antler event topology at hadron colliders
abstract: A bstractWe investigate spin correlation effects in the “antler” event topology pp → A(A*) → B1B2 → (ℓ−C1)(ℓ+C2) at the LHC. We study the shapes of several kinematic variables, including the relative pseudorapidity, relative azimuthal angle and the energies of the two leptons, as well as several mass variables Mℓℓ, Meff, $ \sqrt {{{{s}_{{\min }}}}} $, MT2, MCT and MCTx. We focus on the two kinematic extremes of $\sqrt{S}$ — threshold and infinity — and derive analytical expressions for the differential distributions of several variables, most notably the cos $\theta_{{\ell -\ell +}}^{*}$ variable proposed by Barr in  For all possible spin assignments of particles A, B and C, we derive the cos $\theta_{{\ell -\ell +}}^{*}$ differential distribution at threshold, including the effects of spin correlations. Our analytical results help identify the problematic cases for spin discrimination.

title: Multi-lepton signals of the Higgs boson
abstract: A bstractThe possibility of searching for the Higgs boson in channels with multiple non-resonant leptons is evaluated in light of recent advances in multi-lepton search techniques at the LHC. The total multi-lepton Higgs signal exceeds the four lepton gold-plated resonant mode, but is spread over many channels with same-sign di-lepton, tri-lepton, and four lepton final states. While any individual channel alone is not significant, the exclusive combination across multiple channels is shown to provide a sensitivity nearly comparable to other discovery level searches for the Higgs boson. We estimate that with 5 fb−1 of data, existing non-optimized multi-lepton searches at the LHC could exclude the Higgs boson to 95 % CL at a few times the predicted Standard Model cross section in the mass range 120 − 150 GeV. Refinements focused specifically on the Higgs boson signal are suggested that would further increase sensitivity. We illustrate the possibility of discerning patterns in production and decay modes using correlations across multiple channels by comparing sensitivities to Standard Model, Fermi-phobic, and b-phobic Higgs bosons.

title: Recovering Particle Masses from Missing Energy Signatures with Displaced Tracks
abstract: If physics beyond the Standard Model contains metastable new particle states, its signatures may manifest themselves at the LHC through the presence of displaced vertices or displaced tracks. Such signatures are common in low-scale supersymmetry breaking scenarios as well as a host of other well-studied new physics models. Here we analyze the kinematics of dual cascade decays with missing energy resulting from a stable non-interacting new particle state at the bottom of the decay chain. We find that if the final step of the decay chain involves a metastable particle, the resulting presence of displaced tracks provides strong constraints with which to solve for the unknown kinematic quantities lost through missing energy. In addition we develop techniques with which to recover all kinematic unknowns, even in situations where the unknown quantities outnumber the constraints. These techniques can all be performed using a very small number of events and can thus be applied to very early discovery level searches at the LHC.

title: Vacua and instantons of ghost-free massive gravity
abstract: Recently discovered models of ghost-free massive gravity and bigravity are characterized by a nontrivial potential that gives rise to a rich vacuum structure. We review maximally symmetric vacua of the de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity and of the Hassan-Rosen (HR) bigravity and discuss their perturbative stability. In particular, we discuss perturbations about self-accelerating vacua in HR bigravity and argue that, analogously to what was found in the case of dRGT gravity, some of them contain strongly coupled modes. We then show that it is impossible to construct regular instantons connecting different classically stable vacua of dRGT gravity without violating energy conservation or the null energy condition.

title: Quantum aspects of massive gravity II: non-Pauli-Fierz theory
abstract: We investigate the non-Pauli-Fierz (nPF) theory, a linearized massive gravity with a generic graviton mass term, which has been ignored due to a ghost in its spectrum and the resultant loss of unitarity. We first show that it is possible to use the Lee-Wick mechanism, a unitarization through the decay of a ghost, in order to handle the sixth mode ghost of nPF, and then check for the quantum consistency. Once proven to be consistent, nPF could become a viable candidate for a large distance modification of gravity, because it naturally solves the intrinsic problems that most darkenergy/modified gravity models suffer from: It smoothly converges to general relativity at short distances, and the small graviton mass necessary to modify gravity at large scales can be stable under the radiative corrections from the minimal gravity-to-matter coupling.

title: Dark energy or modified gravity? An effective field theory approach
abstract: We take an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to unifying existing proposals for the origin of cosmic acceleration and its connection to cosmological observations. Building on earlier work where EFT methods were used with observations to constrain the background evolution, we extend this program to the level of the EFT of the cosmological perturbations — following the example from the EFT of Inflation. Within this framework, we construct the general theory around an assumed background which will typically be chosen to mimic ΛCDM, and identify the parameters of interest for constraining dark energy and modified gravity models with observations. We discuss the similarities to the EFT of Inflation, but we also identify a number of subtleties including the relationship between the scalar perturbations and the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken time translations. We present formulae that relate the parameters of the fundamental Lagrangian to the speed of sound, anisotropic shear stress, effective Newtonian constant, and Caldwell's parameter, emphasizing the connection to observations. It is anticipated that this framework will be of use in constraining individual models, as well as for placing model-independent constraints on dark energy and modified gravity model building.