On-shell constrained M2 variables with applications to mass measurements and topology disambiguation
A bstractWe consider a class of on-shell constrained mass variables that are 3+1 dimensional generalizations of the Cambridge MT2 variable and that automatically incorporate various assumptions about the underlying event topology. The presence of additional on-shell constraints causes their kinematic distributions to exhibit sharper endpoints than the usual MT2 distribution. We study the mathematical properties of these new variables, e.g., the uniqueness of the solution selected by the minimization over the invisible particle 4-momenta. We then use this solution to reconstruct the masses of various particles along the decay chain. We propose several tests for validating the assumed event topology in missing energy events from new physics. The tests are able to determine: 1) whether the decays in the event are two-body or three-body, 2) if the decay is two-body, whether the intermediate resonances in the two decay chains are the same, and 3) the exact sequence in which the visible particles are emitted from each decay chain.

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: From Lagrangians to Events: Computer Tutorial at the MC4BSM-2012 Workshop
abstract: This is a written account of the computer tutorial oered at the Sixth MC4BSM workshop at Cornell University, March 22-24, 2012. The tools covered during the tutorial include: FeynRules, LanHEP, MadGraph, CalcHEP, Pythia 8, Herwig++, and Sherpa. In the tutorial, we specify a simple extension of the Standard Model, at the level of a Lagrangian. The software tools are then used to automatically generate a set of Feynman rules, compute the invariant matrix element for a sample process, and generate both parton-level and fully hadronized/showered Monte Carlo event samples. The tutorial is designed to be self-paced, and detailed instructions for all steps are included in this write-up. Installation instructions for each tool on a variety of popular platforms are also provided.

title: Superpartner mass measurement technique using 1D orthogonal decompositions of the Cambridge transverse mass variable M(T2).
abstract: 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: Interplay between Fermi gamma-ray lines and collider searches
abstract: A bstractWe explore the interplay between lines in the gamma-ray spectrum and LHC searches involving missing energy and photons. As an example, we consider a singlet Dirac fermion dark matter with the mediator for Fermi gamma-ray line at 130 GeV. A new chiral or local U(1) symmetry makes weak-scale dark matter natural and provides the axion or Z′ gauge boson as the mediator connecting between dark matter and electroweak gauge bosons. In these models, the mediator particle can be produced in association with a monophoton at colliders and it produces large missing energy through the decays into a DM pair or ZZ, Zγ with at least one Z decaying into a neutrino pair. We adopt the monophoton searches with large missing energy at the LHC and impose the bounds on the coupling and mass of the mediator field in the models. We show that the parameter space of the Z′ mediation model is already strongly constrained by the LHC 8TeV data, whereas a certain region of the parameter space away from the resonance in axion-like mediator models are bounded. We foresee the monophoton bounds on the Z′ and axion mediation models at the LHC 14 TeV.

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: Self-accelerating Warped Braneworlds
abstract: Braneworld models with induced gravity have the potential to replace dark energy as the explanation for the current accelerating expansion of the Universe. The original model of Dvali, Gabadadze, and Porrati (DGP) demonstrated the existence of a 'self-accelerating' branch of background solutions, but suffered from the presence of ghosts. We present a new large class of braneworld models which generalize the DGP model. Our models have negative curvature in the bulk, allow a second brane, and have general brane tensions and localized curvature terms. We exhibit three different kinds of ghosts, associated to the graviton zero mode, the radion, and the longitudinal components of massive graviton modes. The latter two species occur in the DGP model, for negative and positive brane tension, respectively. In our models, we find that the two kinds of DGP ghosts are tightly correlated with each other, but are not always linked to the feature of self-acceleration. Our models are a promising laboratory for understanding the origins and physical meaning of braneworld ghosts, and perhaps for eliminating them altogether.

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: Massive gravity from higher derivative gravity with boundary conditions
abstract: A bstractWith an appropriate choice of parameters, a higher derivative theory of gravity can describe a normal massive sector and a ghost massless sector. We show that, when defined on an asymptotically de Sitter spacetime with Dirichlet boundary conditions, such a higher derivative gravity can provide a framework for a unitary theory of massive gravity in four spacetime dimensions. The resulting theory is free not only of higher derivative ghosts but also of the Boulware-Deser mode.

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: How (Not) to Palatini
abstract: We revisit the problem of defining non-minimal gravity in the first order formalism. Specializing to scalar-tensor theories, which may be disguised as ‘higher-derivative’ models with the gravitational Lagrangians that depend only on the Ricci scalar, we show how to recast these theories as Palatini-like gravities. The correct formulation utilizes the Lagrange multiplier method, which preserves the canonical structure of the theory, and yields the conventional metric scalar-tensor gravity. We explain the discrepancies between the näıve Palatini and the Lagrange multiplier approach, showing that the näıve Palatini approach really swaps the theory for another. The differences disappear only in the limit of ordinary General Relativity, where an accidental redundancy ensures that the näıve Palatini works there. We outline the correct decoupling limits and the strong coupling regimes. As a corollary we find that the so-called ‘Modified Source Gravity’ models suffer from strong coupling problems at very low scales, and hence cannot be a realistic approximation of our universe. We also comment on a method to decouple the extra scalar using the chameleon mechanism. iglesias@physics.ucdavis.edu kaloper@physics.ucdavis.edu antonio.padilla@nottingham.ac.uk park@physics.ucdavis.edu