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  • Scalar mass dependence of angular variables in t(t)over-bar phi production
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Capucha, Rodrigo; Onofre, Antonio; Santos, Rui
    In this paper we explore CP discrimination in the associated production of top-quark pairs (t (t) over bar) with a generic scalar boson (phi) at the LHC. We probe the CP-sensitivity of several observables for a varying scalar boson mass and CP-number, either CP-even (phi = H) or CP-odd (phi= A), using dileptonic final states of the t (t) over bar phi system, with phi -> (b) over bar. We show that CP-searches are virtually impossible for phi boson masses above a few hundred GeV in this channel. A full phenomenological analysis was performed, using Standard Model background and signal events generated with MadGraph5 aMC@NLO and reconstructed using a kinematic fit. The most sensitive CP-observables are used to compute Confidence Levels (CLs), as a function of luminosity, for the exclusion of different signal hypotheses with scalar and pseudoscalar boson masses that range from m(phi) = 40 GeV up to 200 GeV. We finalize by analysing the impact of a measurement (or limit) of the CP-violating angle in the parameter space of a complex two-Higgs doublet model known as the C2HDM.
  • Models with extended Higgs sectors at future e(+)e(-) colliders
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Ferreira, Pedro Miguel; Muehlleitner, Milada Margarete; Santos, Rui; Wittbrodt, Jonas
    We discuss the phenomenology of several beyond the Standard Model (SM) extensions that include extended Higgs sectors. The models discussed are the SM extended by a complex singlet field, the 2-Higgs-doublet model with a CP-conserving and a CP-violating scalar sector, the singlet extension of the 2-Higgs-doublet model, and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric SM extension. All the above models have at least three neutral scalars, with one being the 125 GeV Higgs boson. This common feature allows us to compare the production and decay rates of the other two scalars and therefore to compare their behavior at future electron-positron colliders. Using predictions on the expected precision of the 125 GeV Higgs boson couplings at these colliders we are able to obtain the allowed admixtures of either a singlet or a pseudoscalar to the observed 125 GeV scalar. Therefore, even if no new scalar is found, the expected precision at future electron-positron colliders, such as CLIC, will certainly contribute to a clearer picture of the nature of the discovered Riggs boson.
  • Vacuum structure of the Z(2) symmetric Georgi-Machacek model
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Ferreira, Pedro Miguel; Logan, Heather E.; Santos, Rui
    We discuss the vacuum structure of a version of the Georgi-Machecek model with an exact Z(2) symmetry acting on the triplet fields. Besides the usual custodial-symmetric model, with rho = 1 at tree-level, a model with a dark matter candidate is also viable. The other phases of the model lead to electric charge breaking, a wrong pattern of electroweak symmetry breaking or to rho not equal 1 at tree-level. We derive conditions to have an absolute minimum in each of the two viable phases, the custodial and the dark matter phases.
  • CP in the dark
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Ferreira, Pedro Miguel; Muhlleitner, Milada; Patel, Shruti; Santos, Rui; Wittbrodt, Jonas
    We build a model containing two scalar doublets and a scalar singlet with a specific discrete symmetry. After spontaneous symmetry breaking, the model has Standard Model-like phenomenology, as well as a hidden scalar sector which provides a viable dark matter candidate. We show that CP violation in the scalar sector occurs exclusively in the hidden sector, and consider possible experimental signatures of this CP violation. In particular, we study contribution to anomalous gauge couplings from the hidden scalars.
  • One-loop corrections to the Higgs boson invisible decay in the dark doublet phase of the N2HDM
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Gabriel, Pedro; Muehlleitner, Milada Margarete; Sakurai, Kodai; Santos, Rui
    The Higgs invisible decay width may soon become a powerful tool to probe extensions of the Standard Model with dark matter candidates at the Large Hadron Collider. In this work, we calculate the next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak corrections to the 125 GeV Higgs decay width into two dark matter particles. The model is the next-to-minimal 2-Higgs-doublet model (N2HDM) in the dark doublet phase, that is, only one doublet and the singlet acquire vacuum expectation values. We show that the present measurement of the Higgs invisible branching ratio, BR(H -> invisible < 0.11), does not lead to constraints on the parameter space of the model at leading order. This is due to the very precise measurements of the Higgs couplings but could change in the near future. Furthermore, if NLO corrections are required not to be unphysically large, no limits on the parameter space can be extracted from the NLO results.
  • Testing scalar versus vector dark matter
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Duch, Mateusz; Grzadkowski, Bohdan; Huang, Da; Iglicki, Michal; Santos, Rui
    We investigate and compare two simple models of dark matter (DM): a vector and a scalar DM model. Both models require the presence of two physical Higgs bosons h1 and h2 which come from mixed components of the standard Higgs doublet H and a complex singlet S. In the vector model, the extra Uð1Þ symmetry is spontaneously broken by the vacuum of the complex field S. This leads to a massive gauge boson Xμ that is a DM candidate stabilized by the dark charge conjugation symmetry S → S , Xμ → −Xμ. On the other hand, in the scalar model the gauge group remains the standard one. The DM field A is the imaginary component of S and the stabilizing symmetry is also the dark charge conjugation S → S (A → −A). In this case, in order to avoid spontaneous breaking, the Uð1Þ symmetry is broken explicitly, but softly, in the scalar potential. The possibility to disentangle the two models has been investigated. We have analyzed collider, cosmological, DM direct and indirect detection constraints and shown that there are regions in the space spanned by the mass of the nonstandard Higgs boson and the mass of the DM particle where the experimental bounds exclude one of the models. We have also considered possibility to disentangle the models at eþe− collider and concluded that the process eþe− → Z þ DM provides a useful tool to distinguish the models.
  • Signal versus background interference in H+ → t¯b signals for MSSM benchmark scenarios
    Publication . Arhrib, Abdesslam; Azevedo, Duarte; Benbrik, Rachid; Harouiz, Hicham; Moretti, Stefano; Patrick, Riley; Santos, Rui
    In this paper, we investigate sizeable interference effects between a heavy charged Higgs boson signal produced dominantly via gg -> tbH- (+ c.c.) followed by the decay H--> bt (+ c.c.) and the irreducible background given by pp -> ttbb topologies at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We show that it may be possible that such effects could spoil current H-+/- searches where signal and background are normally treated separately. The reason for this is that a heavy charged Higgs boson can have a large total width, in turn enabling such interferences, altogether leading to potentially very significant alterations, both at the inclusive and exclusive level, of the yield induced by the signal alone. This therefore implies that currently established LHC searches for such wide charged Higgs bosons might require modifications. We show such effects quantitatively using two different benchmark configurations of the minimal realisation of Supersymmetry, wherein such H-+/- states naturally exist. However, on the basis of the limited computing resources available, we are unable to always bring the statistical error down to a level where all such interference effects are unequivocal, so that we advocate dedicated experimental analyses to confirm this with higher statistics data samples.
  • Light Higgs searches in t(t)over-bar phi production at the LHC
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Capucha, Rodrigo; Gouveia, Emanuel; Onofre, Antonio; Santos, Rui
    In this paper we propose a new reconstruction method to explore the low mass region in the associated production of top-quark pairs (t (t) over bar) with a generic scalar boson (phi) at the LHC. The new method of mass reconstruction shows an improved resolution of at least a factor of two in the low mass region when compared to previous methods, without the loss of sensitivity of previous analyses. It turns out that it also leads to an improvement of the mass reconstruction of the 125 GeV Higgs for the same production process. We use an effective Lagrangian to describe a scalar with a generic Yukawa coupling to the top quarks. A full phenomenological analysis was performed, using Standard Model background and signal events generated with MadGraph5_aMC@NLO and reconstructed using a kinematic fit. The use of CP-sensitive variables allows then to maximize the distinction between CP-even and CP-odd components of the Yukawa couplings. Confidence Levels (CLs) for the exclusion of phi bosons with mixed CP (both CP-even and CP-odd components) were determined as a function of the top Yukawa couplings to the phi boson. The mass range analysed starts slightly above the Upsilon mass up to 40 GeV, although the analysis can be used for an arbitrary mass. If no new light scalar is found, exclusion limits at 95% CL for the absolute value of the CP-even and CP-odd Yukawa are derived. Finally, we analyse how these limits constrain the parameter space of the complex two-Higgs doublet model (C2HDM).
  • One-loop contribution to dark-matter-nucleon scattering in the pseudo-scalar dark matter model
    Publication . Azevedo, Duarte; Duch, Mateusz; Grzadkowski, Bohdan; Huang, Da; Iglicki, Michal; Santos, Rui
    Recent dark matter (DM) direct searches place very stringent constraints on the possible DM candidates proposed in extensions of the Standard Model. There are however models where these constraints are avoided. One of the simplest and most striking examples comes from a straightforward Higgs-portal pseudo-scalar DM model featured with a softly broken U(1) symmetry. In this model the tree-level DM-nucleon scattering cross section vanishes in the limit of zero momentum transfer. It has also been argued that the leading-order DM-nucleon cross section appears at the one-loop level. In this work we have calculated the exact cross section in the zero momentum transfer at the leading order i.e., at the one-loop level of perturbative expansion. We have concluded that, in agreement with expectations, the amplitude for the scattering process is UV finite and approaches zero in the limit of vanishing DM masses. Moreover, we made clear that the finite DM velocity correction at tree level is subdominant with respect to the one-loop contribution. Based on the analytic formulae, our numerical studies show that, for a typical choice of model parameters, the DM nuclear recoiling cross section is well below OO(10−50 cm2), which indicates that the DM direct detection signal in this model naturally avoids present strong experimental limits on the cross section.