arXiv subjects

Tao Han

Publications and source records attributed to Tao Han.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Signatures for Majorana neutrinos at hadron colliders

The Majorana nature of neutrinos may only be experimentally verified via lepton-number violating processes involving charged leptons. We explore the $ΔL=2$ like-sign dilepton production at hadron colliders to search for signals of Majorana neutrinos. We find significant sensitivity for resonant production of a Majorana neutrino in the mass range of 10-80 GeV at the current run of the Tevatron with 2 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, and in the range of 10-400 GeV at the LHC with 100 fb$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2006

Smoking-gun signatures of little Higgs models

Little Higgs models predict new gauge bosons, fermions and scalars at the TeV scale that stabilize the Higgs mass against quadratically divergent one-loop radiative corrections. We categorize the many little Higgs models into two classes based on the structure of the extended electroweak gauge group and examine the experimental signatures that identify the little Higgs mechanism in addition to those that identify the particular little Higgs model. We find that by examining the properties of the new heavy fermion(s) at the LHC, one can distinguish the structure of the top quark mass generation mechanism and test the little Higgs mechanism in the top sector. Similarly, by studying the couplings of the new gauge bosons to the light Higgs boson and to the Standard Model fermions, one can confirm the little Higgs mechanism and determine the structure of the extended electroweak gauge group.

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arXiv2005

Anomalous gauge couplings of the Higgs boson at high energy photon colliders

We study the sensitivity of testing the anomalous gauge couplings $g_{HVV}$'s of the Higgs boson in the formulation of linearly realized gauge symmetry via the processes $γγ\to ZZ$ and $γγ\to WWWW$ at polarized and unpolarized photon colliders based on $e^+e^-$ linear colliders of c.m.~energies 500 GeV, 1 TeV, and 3 TeV. Signals beyond the standard model (SM) and SM backgrounds are carefully studied. We propose certain kinematic cuts to suppress the standard model backgrounds. For an integrated luminosity of 1 ab$^{-1}$, we show that (a) $γγ\to ZZ$ can provide a test of $g_{Hγγ}$ to the $3σ$ sensitivity of $O(10^{-3}-10^{-2})$ TeV$^{-1}$ at a 500 GeV ILC, and $O(10^{-3})$ TeV$^{-1}$ at a 1 TeV ILC and a 3 TeV CLIC, and (b) $γγ\to WWWW$ at a 3 TeV CLIC can test all the anomalous couplings $g_{HVV}$'s to the $3σ$ sensitivity of $O(10^{-3}-10^{-2})$ TeV$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2005

Exotic Neutrino Interactions at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory for cosmic rays provides a laboratory for studying fundamental interactions at energies well beyond those available at colliders. In addition to hadrons or photons, Auger is sensitive to ultra-high energy neutrinos in the cosmic radiation and models for new physics can be explored by observing neutrino interactions at center-of-mass energies beyond the TeV scale. By comparing the rate for quasi-horizontal, deeply penetrating air showers triggered by all types of neutrinos with the rate for slightly upgoing showers generated by Earth-skimming tau neutrinos, any deviation of the neutrino-nucleon cross-section from the Standard Model expectation can be constrained. We show that this can test models of low-scale quantum gravity (including processes such as Kaluza-Klein graviton exchange, microscopic black hole production and string resonances), as well as non-perturbative electroweak instanton mediated processes. Moreover, the observed ratios of neutrino flavors would severely constrain the possibility of neutrino decay.

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arXiv2005

Neutrino masses and lepton-number violation in the Littlest Higgs scenario

We investigate the sources of neutrino mass generation in Little Higgs theories, by confining ourselves to the "Littlest Higgs" scenario. Our conclusion is that the most satisfactory way of incorporating neutrino masses is to include a lepton-number violating interaction between the scalar triplet and lepton doublets. The tree-level neutrino masses generated by the vacuum expectation value of the triplet are found to dominate over contributions from dimension-five operators so long as no additional large lepton-number violating physics exists at the cut-off scale of the effective theory. We also calculate the various decay branching ratios of the charged and neutral scalar triplet states, in regions of the parameter space consistent with the observed neutrino masses, hoping to search for signals of lepton-number violating interactions in collider experiments.

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arXiv2005

Collider Phenomenology: Basic Knowledge and Techniques

This is the writeup for TASI--04 lectures on Collider Phenomenology. These lectures are meant to provide an introductory presentation on the basic knowledge and techniques for collider physics. Special efforts have been made for those theorists who need to know some experimental issues in collider environments, and for those experimenters who would like to know more about theoretical considerations in searching for new signals at colliders.

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arXiv2005

Upper Bounds on Lepton-number Violating Processes

We consider four lepton-number violating (\lv) processes: (a) neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ), (b) Delta L = 2 tau decays, (c) Delta L = 2 rare meson decays and (d) nuclear muon-positron conversion. In the absence of exotic \lv interactions, the rates for these processes are determined by effective neutrino masses _{\ell_1\ell_2}, which can be related to the sum of light neutrino masses, the neutrino mass-squared differences, the neutrino mixing angles, a Dirac phase and two Majorana phases. We sample the experimentally allowed ranges of _{\ell_1\ell_2} based on neutrino oscillation experiments as well as cosmological observations, and obtain a stringent upper bound _{\ell_1\ell_2} \lsim 0.14 eV. We then calculate the allowed ranges for _{\ell_1\ell_2} from the experimental rates of direct searches for the above Delta L = 2 processes. Comparing our calculated rates with the currently or soon available data, we find that only the $0νββ$ experiment may be able to probe _{ee} with a sensitivity comparable to the current bound. Muon-positron conversion is next in sensitivity, while the limits of direct searches for the other Delta L = 2 processes are several orders of magnitude weaker than the current bounds on _{\ell_1\ell_2}. Any positive signal in those direct searches would indicate new contributions to the \lv interactions beyond those from three light Majorana neutrinos.

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arXiv2005

Associated Production of a Top Quark and a Charged Higgs Boson

We compute the inclusive and differential cross sections for the associated production of a top quark along with a charged Higgs boson at hadron colliders to next-to-leading order (NLO) in perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and in supersymmetric QCD. For small Higgs boson masses we include top quark pair production diagrams with subsequent top quark decay into a bottom quark and a charged Higgs boson. We compare the NLO differential cross sections obtained in the bottom parton picture with those for the gluon-initiated production process and find good agreement. The effects of supersymmetric loop contributions are explored. Only the corrections to the Yukawa coupling are sizable in the potential discovery region at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). All expressions and numerical results are fully differential, permitting selections on the momenta of both the top quark and the charged Higgs boson.

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arXiv2005

Discovering an Invisibly Decaying Higgs at Hadron Colliders

A Higgs boson lighter than 2 m_W that decays mostly into invisible channels (e.g., dark matter particles) is theoretically well-motivated. We study the prospects for discovery of such an invisible Higgs, h_inv, at the LHC and the Tevatron in three production modes: (1) in association with a Z, (2) through Weak Boson Fusion (WBF), and (3) accompanied by a jet. In the Z+h_inv channel, we show that the LHC can yield a discovery signal above 5 sigma with 10 fb-1 of integrated luminosity for a Higgs mass of 120 GeV. With 30 fb-1 the discovery reach extends up to a Higgs mass of 160 GeV. We also study the extraction of the h_inv mass from production cross sections at the LHC, and find that combining WBF and Z+h_inv allows a relatively model-independent determination of the h_inv mass with an uncertainty of 35-50 GeV (15-20 GeV) with 10 (100) fb-1. At the Tevatron, a 3 sigma observation of a 120 GeV h_inv in any single channel is not possible with less than 12 fb-1 per detector. However, we show that combining the signal from WBF with the previously-studied Z+h_inv channel allows a 3 sigma observation of h_inv with 7 fb-1 per detector. Because of overwhelming irreducible backgrounds, h_inv+j is not a useful search channel at either the Tevatron or the LHC, despite the larger production rate.

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arXiv2005

Scale of Quantum Gravity

In the effective field theory of quantum gravitation coupled to N_s scalars, N_f fermions, and N_V vectors, tree unitarity is violated at an energy squared of E_{CM}^2 = 20(G_N N)^{-1}, where N = {2/3}N_s + N_f + 4N_V and G_N is Newton's constant. This is related to radiative corrections proportional to G_N N E^2 (where E is the typical energy), due to loops of such particles. New physics must enter before E_{CM}=5.6 x 10^{18} GeV in the standard model, and 4.6 x 10^{18} GeV in the minimal supersymmetric standard model.

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arXiv2004

TeV-Scale String Resonances at Hadron Colliders

We construct tree-level four-particle open-string amplitudes relevant to dilepton and diphoton production at hadron colliders. We expand the amplitudes into string resonance (SR) contributions and compare the total cross-section through the first SR with the $Z^{\prime}$ search at the Tevatron. We establish a current lower bound based on the CDF Run I results on the string scale to be about $1.1-2.1$ TeV, and it can be improved to about $1.5-3$ TeV with 2 fb$^{-1}$. At the LHC, we investigate the properties of signals induced by string resonances in dilepton and diphoton processes. We demonstrate the unique aspects of SR-induced signals distinguishable from other new physics, such as the angular distributions and forward-backward asymmetry. A 95% C.L. lower bound can be reached at the LHC for $M_S>8.2-10$ TeV with an integrated luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$. We emphasize the generic features and profound implications of the amplitude construction.

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arXiv2004

New Signatures For Top In Hadron Collider

We study the signatures for new TeV resonances that couple to top or bottom quarks both at the Tevatron Run II and at the LHC. We find that it is possible to study these resonances when they are produced in association with a pair of heavy quarks or in association with a single top at the LHC. In particular, with an integrated luminosity of 300 fb$^{-1}$ at the LHC, it is possible to probe resonance masses up to around 2 TeV.

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arXiv2004

The Particle Physics Reach of High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy

We discuss the prospects for high-energy neutrino astronomy to study particle physics in the energy regime comparable to and beyond that obtainable at the current and planned colliders. We describe the various signatures of high-energy cosmic neutrinos expected in both neutrino telescopes and air shower experiments and discuss these measurements within the context of theoretical models with a quantum gravity or string scale near a TeV, supersymmetry and scenarios with interactions induced by electroweak instantons. We attempt to access the particle physics reach of these experiments.

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arXiv2004

Loop induced decays of the Little Higgs: H --> gg, gamma gamma

We analyze the loop induced decays of the Higgs boson into pairs of gluons and photons in the Littlest Higgs model. We find that the deviation of the partial widths for these decays relative to their Standard Model values scales with 1/f^2, where f ~ TeV is the mass scale of the new heavy particles in the model. For f = 1 TeV, Gamma(H -> gg) is reduced by 6-10% and Gamma(H -> gamma gamma) is reduced by 5-7% compared to their Standard Model values. While the LHC and a linear e+e- collider would be sensitive to these deviations only for relatively low values of f <~ 650 GeV, a photon collider could probe the deviation in Gamma(H -> gamma gamma) up to f <~ 1.1 (0.7) TeV at the 2 (5) sigma level.

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arXiv2004

The FCNC top-squark decay as a probe of squark mixing

In supersymmetry (SUSY) the flavor mixing between top-squark (stop) and charm-squark (scharm) induces the flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) stop decay $\tilde t_1 \to c \tilde χ^0_1$. Searching for this decay serves as a probe of soft SUSY breaking parameters. Focusing on the stop pair production followed by the FCNC decay of one stop and the charge-current decay of the other stop, we investigate the potential of detecting this FCNC stop decay at the Fermilab Tevatron, the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the next-generation $e^+e^-$ linear collider (LC). We find that this decay may not be accessible at the Tevatron, but could be observable at the LHC and the LC with high sensitivity.

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arXiv2004

The Higgs Sector in a $U(1)^\prime$ Extension of the MSSM

We consider the Higgs sector in an extension of the MSSM with extra SM singlets, involving an extra $U(1)^\prime$ gauge symmetry, in which the domain-wall problem is avoided and the effective $μ$ parameter is decoupled from the new gauge boson $Z^\prime$ mass. The model involves a rich Higgs structure very different from that of the MSSM. In particular, there are large mixings between Higgs doublets and the SM singlets, significantly affecting the Higgs spectrum, production cross sections, decay modes, existing exclusion limits, and allowed parameter range. Scalars considerably lighter than the LEP2 bound (114 GeV) are allowed, and the range $\tan β\sim 1$ is both allowed and theoretically favored. Phenomenologically, we concentrate our study on the lighter (least model-dependent, yet characteristic) Higgs particles with significant SU(2)-doublet components to their wave functions, for the case of no explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector. We consider their spectra, including the dominant radiative corrections to their masses from the top/stop loop. We computed their production cross sections and reexamine the existing exclusion limits at LEP2. We outline the searching strategy for some representative scenarios at a future linear collider. We emphasize that gaugino, Higgsino, and singlino decay modes are indicative of extended models and have been given little attention. We present a comprehensive list of model scenarios in the Appendices.

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arXiv2004

Phenomenology of the Little Higgs Model

We study the low energy phenomenology of the little Higgs model. We first discuss the linearized effective theory of the "littlest Higgs model" and study the low energy constraints on the model parameters. We identify sources of the corrections to low energy observables, discuss model-dependent arbitrariness, and outline some possible directions of extensions of the model in order to evade the precision electroweak constraints. We then explore the characteristic signatures to test the model in the current and future collider experiments. We find that the LHC has great potential to discover the new SU(2) gauge bosons and the possible new U(1) gauge boson to the multi-TeV mass scale. Other states such as the colored vector-like quark T and doubly-charged Higgs boson Phi^{++} may also provide interesting signals. At a linear collider, precision measurements on the triple gauge boson couplings could be sensitive to the new physics scale of a few TeV. We provide a comprehensive list of the linearized interactions and vertices for the littlest Higgs model in the appendices.

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arXiv2004

An NMSSM Without Domain Walls

We consider the Higgs sector in an extension of the MSSM involving an extra U(1)' gauge symmetry and SM singlet U(1)' charged scalars, in which the effective $μ$ parameter is decoupled from the Z' mass. There are large mixings between Higgs doublets and singlets, significantly affecting the Higgs spectrum, production cross sections, decay modes, exclusion limits, and allowed parameters ranges. Scalars considerably lighter than 114 GeV are allowed, and the range $\tan β\sim 1$ is both allowed and theoretically favored. We concentrate on the lighter (least model dependent) Higgs particles with significant SU(2)-doublet components to their wave functions, for the case of no explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector. We consider their spectra, including the dominant radiative corrections to their masses in the large $\tilde t$ mass limit; production cross sections and exclusion limits at LEP and a future linear collider; and decay properties.

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