Physics beyond the standard model: supersymmetry
This collection of studies on new physics at the LHC constitutes the report of the supersymmetry working group at the Workshop 'Physics at TeV Colliders', Les Houches, France, 2007. They cover the wide spectrum of phenomenology in the LHC era, from alternative models and signatures to the extraction of relevant observables, the study of the MSSM parameter space and finally to the interplay of LHC observations with additional data expected on a similar time scale. The special feature of this collection is that while not each of the studies is explicitly performed together by theoretical and experimental LHC physicists, all of them were inspired by and discussed in this particular environment.

title: Di-boson and Tri-boson production at the LHC
abstract: The status of di-boson and tri-boson production is shortly review. Using the VBFNLO and the LOOPSIM package, approximated results at NNLO QCD are given for WZ production. Results for waa + jet at NLO QCD are also shown.

title: Helmholtz Alliance Linear Collider Forum
abstract: Supersymmetric scenarios with a very weakly interacting lightest superpartner (LSP) - like the gravitino or axino - naturally give rise to a long-lived next-to-LSP (NLSP). If the NLSP is a charged slepton it leaves a very distinct signature in a collider experiment. At the ILC/CLIC it will be possible to capture a significant fraction of the produced charged sleptons and observe their decays. These decays potentially reveal the nature of the LSP and thus provide a unique possibility to measure the properties of a very weakly interacting LSP which otherwise is most likely hidden from any other observation, like direct or indirect dark matter searches. We review the proposals that have been made to measure the LSP properties at the ILC/CLIC and compare its potential to the capability of the LHC.

title: Dark sector spectroscopy at the ILC
abstract: Recent studies have shown that searches in the mono-photon and missing energy final state can be used to discover dark matter candidates at the ILC. While an excess in this final state over the Standard Model background would indicate the existence of a dark sector, no detailed information about the internal structure of this sector can be inferred. Here, we demonstrate how just a few observables can discriminate between various realisations of dark sectors, including e.g. the spin of mediators.

title: Measuring supersymmetry
abstract: If new physics is found at the LHC (and the ILC) the reconstruction of the underlying theory should not be biased by assumptions about high-scale models. For the mapping of many measurements onto high-dimensional parameter spaces we introduce SFitter with its new weighted Markov chain technique. SFitter constructs an exclusive likelihood map, determines the best-fitting parameter point and produces a ranked list of the most likely parameter points. Using the example of the TeV-scale supersymmetric Lagrangian we show how a high-dimensional likelihood map will generally include degeneracies and strong correlations. SFitter allows us to study such model-parameter spaces employing Bayesian as well as frequentist constructions. We illustrate in detail how it should be possible to analyze high-dimensional new-physics parameter spaces like the TeV-scale MSSM at the LHC. A combination of LHC and ILC measurements might well be able to completely cover highly complex TeV-scale parameter spaces.

title: NLO QCD corrections to $W^\pm Z\gamma$ production with leptonic decays
abstract: We present a computation of the O(alpha_s) QCD corrections to W^\pm Z \gamma production at the Large Hadron Collider. The photon is considered as real, and we include full leptonic decays for the W and Z bosons. Based on the structure of the VBFNLO program package, we obtain numerical results through a fully flexible Monte Carlo program, which allows to implement general cuts and distributions of the final-state particles. The NLO QCD corrections are sizable and strongly exceed the theory error obtained by a scale variation of the leading-order result. Also, the shapes of relevant observables are significantly altered.

title: New Statistical Measures of the Lya Forest Spectra for Accurate Comparison to Theoretical Models
abstract: We propose a new method of analysis for the \lya forest, namely to measure the 1-point and 2-point joint probability distribution of the transmitted flux. The results for a sample of seven observed quasars and from two simulations of structure formation are shown and compared. Statistically significant differences in the 2-point function between the results of the numerical simulations and the observations are easily found. The analysis we suggest is very simple to apply to observed data sets, and we discuss its superiority over the traditional Voigt-profile fitting algorithms for accurate comparison to the predictions of theoretical models.

title: A Spectacular Radio Flare from XRF 050416a at 40 Days and Implications for the Nature of X-Ray Flashes
abstract: We present detailed optical, near-infrared, and radio observations of the X-ray flash XRF 050416a obtained with Palomar and Siding Springs Observatories, as well as the HST and VLA, placing this event among the best-studied X-ray flashes to date. In addition, we present an optical spectrum from Keck LRIS from which we measure the redshift of the burst, z = 0.6528. At this redshift the isotropic-equivalent prompt energy release was about 1051 ergs, and using a standard afterglow synchrotron model, we find that the blast wave kinetic energy is a factor of 10 larger, EK,iso ≈ 1052 ergs. The lack of an observed jet break to t ~ 20 days indicates that the opening angle is θj 7° and the total beaming-corrected relativistic energy is 1050 ergs. We further show that the burst produced a strong radio flare at t ~ 40 days accompanied by an observed flattening in the X-ray band, which we attribute to an abrupt circumburst density jump or an episode of energy injection (from either a refreshed shock or off-axis ejecta). Late-time observations with HST show evidence for an associated supernova with peak optical luminosity roughly comparable to that of SN 1998bw. Next, we show that the host galaxy of XRF 050416a is actively forming stars at a rate of at least 2 M☉ yr-1 with a luminosity of LB ≈ 0.5L* and metallicity of Z ~ 0.2-0.8 Z☉. Finally, we discuss the nature of XRF 050416a in the context of short-hard GRBs and under the framework of off-axis and dirty fireball models for X-ray flashes.

title: Direct integration and non-perturbative effects in matrix models
abstract: We show how direct integration can be used to solve the closed amplitudes of multicut matrix models with polynomial potentials. In the case of the cubic matrix model, we give explicit expressions for the ring of nonholomorphic modular objects that are needed to express all closed matrix model amplitudes. This allows us to integrate the holomorphic anomaly equation up to holomorphic modular terms that we fix by the gap condition up to genus four. There is an onedimensional submanifold of the moduli space in which the spectral curve becomes the Seiberg-Witten curve and the ring reduces to the nonholomorphic modular ring of the group Γ(2). On that submanifold, the gap conditions completely fix the holomorphic ambiguity and the model can be solved explicitly to very high genus. We use these results to make precision tests of the connection between the large order behavior of the 1/N expansion and nonperturbative effects due to instantons. Finally, we argue that a full understanding of the large genus asymptotics in the multicut case requires a new class of nonperturbative sectors in the matrix model.

title: High-redshift Metals. II. Probing Reionization Galaxies with Low-ionization Absorption Lines at Redshift Six
abstract: We present a survey for low-ionization metal absorption line systems toward 17 QSOs at redshifts z_(em) = 5.8-6.4. Nine of our objects were observed at high resolution with either Keck/HIRES or Magellan/MIKE, and the remainder at moderate resolution with Keck/ESI. The survey spans 5.3 5.3 in the number density of highly ionized systems traced by C IV. The low-ionization systems at z ~ 6 span a similar range of velocity widths as lower-redshift sub-DLAs but have significantly weaker lines at a given width. This may imply that the mass-metallicity relation of the host galaxies evolves toward lower metallicities at higher redshifts. These systems lack strong Si IV and C IV, which are common among lower-redshift DLAs and sub-DLAs. This is consistent, however, with a similar decrease in the metallicity of the low- and high-ionization phases, and does not necessarily indicate a lack of nearby, highly ionized gas. The high number density of low-ionization systems at z ~ 6 suggests that we may be detecting galaxies below the current limits of i-dropout and Lyα emission galaxy surveys. These systems may therefore be the first direct probes of the "typical" galaxies responsible for hydrogen reionization.

title: Omega (baryon) and the geometry of intermediate redshift Lyman alpha absorption systems
abstract: Estimates of Omega_baryon from primordial nucleosynthesis together with standard assumptions about the ionization state of low column density Lyman alpha forest clouds can be used to determine an upper limit for the cloud thickness along the line of sight. This upper limit provides significant constraints on the axis ratio of the absorbers and on the overall fraction of the baryonic matter contained in these objects if the recently measured large values for their transversal size are representative. The absorbers have to be considerably flattened structures and may possibly contain a substantial fraction of the baryonic matter at high redshift.