This thesis presents a search for long-lived particles decaying into displaced electrons and/or muons with large impact parameters. This signature provides unique sensitivity to the production of theoretical lepton-partners, sleptons. These particles are a feature of supersymmetric theories, which seek to address unanswered questions in nature. The signature searched for in this thesis is difficult to identify, and in fact, this is the first time it has been probed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It covers a long-standing gap in coverage of possible new physics signatures. This thesis describes the special reconstruction and identification algorithms used to select leptons with large impact parameters and the details of the background estimation. The results are consistent with background, so limits on slepton masses and lifetimes in this model are calculated at 95% CL, drastically improving on the previous best limits from the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP).
The project reported here was a search for new super symmetric particles in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. It has produced some of the world’s best exclusion limits on such new particles. Furthermore, dedicated simulation studies and data analyses have also yielded essential input to the upgrade activities of the CMS collaboration, both for the Phase-1 pixel detector upgrade and for the R&D studies in pursuit of a Phase-2 end cap calorimeter upgrade.
This thesis discusses searches for electroweakly produced supersymmetric partners of the gauge and the Higgs bosons (gauginos and higgsinos) decaying to multiple leptons, using pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV. The thesis presents an in-depth study of multiple searches, as well as the first 13 TeV cross section measurement for the dominant background in these searches, WZ production. Two searches were performed using 36.1/fb of data: the gaugino search, which makes use of a novel kinematic variable, and the higgsino search, which produced the first higgsino limits at the LHC. A search using 139/fb of data makes use of a new technique developed in this thesis to cross check an excess of data above the background expectation in a search using a Recursive Jigsaw Reconstruction technique. None of the searches showed a significant excess of data, and limits were expanded with respect to previous results. These searches will benefit from the addition of luminosity during HL-LHC; however, the current detector will not be able to withstand the increase in radiation. Electronics for the detector upgrade are tested and irradiated to ensure their performance.
This is a selection from over 250 papers published by Abdus Salam. Professor Salam has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London and Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, for which he was largely responsible for creating. He is one of the most distinguished theoretical physicists of his generation and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979 for his work on the unification of electromagnetic and weak interactions. He is well known for his deep interest in the development of scientific research in the third world (to which ICTP is devoted) and has taken a leading part in setting up the Third World Academy. His research work has ranged widely over quantum field theory and all aspects of the theory of elementary particles and more recently into other fields, including high-temperature superconductivity and theoretical biology. The papers selected represent a cross section of his work covering the entire period of 50 years from his student days to the present.
Supersymmetry (SUSY) is one of the most important ideas ever conceived in particle physics. It is a symmetry that relates known elementary particles of a certain spin to as yet undiscovered particles that differ by half a unit of that spin (known as Superparticles). Supersymmetric models now stand as the most promising candidates for a unified theory beyond the Standard Model (SM). SUSY is an elegant and simple theory, but its existence lacks direct proof. Instead of dismissing supersymmetry altogether, Supersymmetry Beyond Minimality: from Theory to Experiment suggests that SUSY may exist in more complex and subtle manifestation than the minimal model. The book explores in detail non-minimal SUSY models, in a bottom-up approach that interconnects experimental phenomena in the fermionic and bosonic sectors. The book considers with equal emphasis the Higgs and Superparticle sectors, and explains both collider and non-collider experiments. Uniquely, the book explores charge/parity and lepton flavour violation. Supersymmetry Beyond Minimality: from Theory to Experiment provides an introduction to well-motivated examples of such non-minimal SUSY models, including the ingredients for generating neutrino masses and/or relaxing the tension with the heavily constraining Large Hadron Collider (LHC) data. Examples of these scenarios are explored in depth, in particular the discussions on Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric SM (NMSSM) and B-L Supersymmetric SM (BLSSM).
This book provides a self-contained description of the measurements of the magnetic dipole moments of the electron and muon, along with a discussion of the measurements of the fine structure constant, and the theory associated with magnetic and electric dipole moments. Also included are the searches for a permanent electric dipole moment of the electron, muon, neutron and atomic nuclei. The related topic of the transition moment for lepton flavor violating processes, such as neutrinoless muon or tauon decays, and the search for such processes are included as well. The papers, written by many of the leading authors in this field, cover both the experimental and theoretical aspects of these topics. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Historical Introduction to Electric and Mangnetic Moments (367 KB). Contents: Historical Introduction (B L Roberts); Electromagnetic Dipole Moments and New Physics (A Czarnecki & W J Marciano); Lepton g OCo 2 from 1947 to Present (T Kinoshita); Analytic QED Calculations of the Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Electron (S Laporta & E Remiddi); Measurements of the Electron Magnetic Moment (G Gabrielse); Determining the Fine Structure Constant (G Gabrielse); Helium Fine Structure Theory for the Determination of (K Pachucki & J Sapirstein); Hadronic Vacuum Polarization and the Lepton Anomalous Magnetic Moments (M Davier); The Hadronic Light-by-Light Contribution to a, e (J Prades et al.); General Prescriptions for One-loop Contributions to a e, (K R Lynch); Measurement of the Muon ( g OCo 2) Value (J P Miller et al.); Muon ( g OCo 2) and Physics Beyond the Standard Model (D StAckinger); Probing CP Violation with Electric Dipole Moments (M Pospelov & A Ritz); The Electric Dipole Moment of the Electron (E D Commins & D DeMille); Neutron EDM Experiments (S K Lamoreaux & R Golub); Nuclear Electric Dipole Moments (W C Griffith et al.); EDM Measurements in Storage Rings (B L Roberts et al.); Models of Lepton Flavor Violation (Y Okada); Search for the Charged Lepton-Flavor-Violating Transition Moments l OaAE l OC (Y Kuno). Readership: Researchers and graduate students in particle physics, atomic physics and nuclear physics, as well as experts working in the field
This unique volume captures the content of the XXXth International Workshop on High Energy Physics. The scope of this volume is much wider than just high-energy physics; it actually concerns and includes materials from all the most fundamental areas of modern physics research: high-energy physics proper, gravitation and cosmology. Presentations embrace both theory and experiment.
This work was nominated as an outstanding PhD thesis by the LPSC, Université Grenoble Alpes, France. The LHC Run 1 was a milestone in particle physics, leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last missing piece of the so-called "Standard Model" (SM), and to important constraints on new physics, which challenge popular theories like weak-scale supersymmetry. This thesis provides a detailed account of the legacy of the LHC Run 1 ≤¥regarding these aspects. First, the SM and the need for its extension are presented in a concise yet revealing way. Subsequently, the impact of the LHC Higgs results on scenarios of new physics is assessed in detail, including a careful discussion of the relevant uncertainties. Two approaches are considered: generic modifications of the Higgs couplings, possibly arising from extended Higgs sectors or higher-dimensional operators; and tests of specific new physics models. Lastly, the implications of the null results of the searches for new physics are discussed with a particular focus on supersymmetric dark matter candidates. Here as well, two approaches are presented: the "simplified models" approach, and recasting by event simulation. This thesis stands out for its educational approach, its clear language and the depth of the physics discussion. The methods and tools presented offer readers essential practical tools for future research.
The discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) represents a milestone for the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Most of the SM Higgs production and decay rates have been measured at the LHC with increased precision. However, despite its experimental success, the SM is known to be only an effective manifestation of a more fundamental description of nature. The scientific research at the LHC is strongly focused on extending the SM by searching, directly or indirectly, for indications of New Physics. The extensive physics program requires increasingly advanced computational and algorithmic techniques. In the last decades, Machine Learning (ML) methods have made a prominent appearance in the field of particle physics, and promise to address many challenges faced by the LHC. This thesis presents the analysis that led to the observation of the SM Higgs boson decay into pairs of bottom quarks. The analysis exploits the production of a Higgs boson associated with a vector boson whose signatures enable efficient triggering and powerful background reduction. The main strategy to maximise the signal sensitivity is based on a multivariate approach. The analysis is performed on a dataset corresponding to a luminosity of 79.8/fb collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run-2 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. An excess of events over the expected background is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.9 (4.3) standard deviation. A combination with results from other \Hbb searches provides an observed (expected) significance of 5.4 (5.5). The corresponding ratio between the signal yield and the SM expectation is 1.01 +- 0.12 (stat.)+ 0.16-0.15(syst.). The 'observation' analysis was further extended to provide a finer interpretation of the V H(H → bb) signal measurement. The cross sections for the VH production times the H → bb branching ratio have been measured in exclusive regions of phase space. These measurements are used to search for possible deviations from the SM with an effective field theory approach, based on anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson. The results of the cross-section measurements, as well as the constraining of the operators that affect the couplings of the Higgs boson to the vector boson and the bottom quarks, have been documented and discussed in this thesis. This thesis also describes a novel technique for the fast simulation of the forward calorimeter response, based on similarity search methods. Such techniques constitute a branch of ML and include clustering and indexing methods that enable quick and efficient searches for vectors similar to each other. The new simulation approach provides optimal results in terms of detector resolution response and reduces the computational requirements of a standard particles simulation.
