Unraveling supersymmetry at future colliders

After a quick review of the current limits on sparticle masses, we outline the prospects for their discovery at future colliders. We then proceed to discuss how precision measurements of sparticle masses can provide information about how SM superpartners acquire their masses. Finally, we examine how we can proceed to establish whether or not any new physics discovered in the future is supersymmetry, and describe how we might zero in on the framework of SUSY breaking. In this connection, we review sparticle mass measurements at future colliders, and point out that some capabilities of experiments ate ⁺ e ⁻ linear colliders may have been over-stated in the literature.     

Theψ-particles in an SU4 scheme with anomalous currents

The recently discovered narrow peaks (theψ-particles) in e⁺e⁻ system at 3.105 and 3.695 GeV are interpreted as hadrons in a broken SU₄ symmetry scheme. A new additional additive quantum number, parachargeZ, is combined with the usual SU₃ quantum numbers in the group SU₄. Theψ (3.1) is assigned to a near ideally mixed15⊕1 multiplet of vector mesons (containing theρ) as theI=Y=0, charge conjugationC=−combination ofZ=±1.members. Theψ (3.7) is assigned correspondingly to another mixed15⊕1 multiplet containing theρ′ (1600). The hadronic electromagnetic interactions are modified by the addition of (non-minimal) anomalous pieces that can changeZ. The decays of theψ-particles are discussed. New enlarged SU₄ multiplets of other hadrons are proposed. Tests of our scheme are put forward. The most crucial test will be the observation of two rather broad resonances in e⁺ e⁻ collisions with masses around 4.2 GeV and 5.1 GeV. Another prediction is the presence of energetic photons in the decays of theψ-particles. Important results concerning the recently observed phenomena in the process e⁺e⁻→hadrons follow in this scheme.     

Ultimate parameters of the photon collider at the international linear collider

At linear colliders, the e ⁺ e ⁻ luminosity is limited by beam-collision effects, which determine the required emittances of beams in damping rings (DRs). In γγ collisions at the photon collider, these effects are absent, and so smaller emittances are desirable. In the present damping ring designs, nominal DR parameters correspond to those required for e ⁺ e ⁻ collisions. In this note, I would like to stress once again that as soon as we plan the photon collider mode of ILC operation, the damping ring emittances are dictated by the photon collider requirements — namely, they should be as small as possible. This can be achieved by adding more wigglers to the DRs; the incremental cost is easily justified by a considerable potential improvement of the γγ luminosity. No expert analysis exists as of now, but it seems realistic to obtain a factor five increase of the γγ luminosity compared to the ‘nominal’ DR design.      

Two-Photon Channel in <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>−<Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis> Models

In this paper we examine the possibility of having an exception to the recent observation by L. Randall amd M. Wise, which states that “a significant branching ratios to both e ⁺ e ⁻ and γ γ is possible only if new physics beyond that in the SM couples directly to electrons”. We consider resonances decaying into diphotons and dielectrons final states predicted in U(1) _B−L extensions of the SM. We find that these new resonances can’t decay into e ⁺ e ⁻ and γ γ final states with comparably measurable branching ratios although such resonances are directly coupled to electrons.     

Distinguishing new physics scenarios with polarized electron and positron beams

Contact-like nonstandard interactions can be revealed only through deviations of observables from the standard model (SM) predictions. We consider a number of such nonstandard scenarios, and discuss their identification as sources of deviations in fermion-pair production processes at the international linear collider (ILC), if they were observed. We emphasize the role of e ⁻ and e ⁺ polarization in enhancing the identification reaches.      

Physics at the linear collider

The physics at the plannede ⁺ e ^- colliders is discussed around three main topics corresponding to different manifestations of symmetry breaking:W physics in the no Higgs scenario, studies of the properties of the Higgs and precision tests of SUSY. A comparison with the LHC is made for all these cases. The γγ mode of the linear collider will also be reviewed.     

Probing anomalous Higgs couplings at an <Emphasis Type="Italic">eγ</Emphasis> collider using unpolarised beams

We examine the sensitivity of eγ colliders (based on e ⁺ e ⁻ linear colliders of c.m. energy 500 GeV) to the anomalous couplings of the Higgs to W-boson via the process e ⁻ γ → νWH. This has the advantage over e ⁺ e ⁻ collider in being able to dissociate WWH vertex from ZZH. We are able to construct several dynamical variables which may be used to constrain the various couplings in the WWH vertex.      

Associated production of light gravitinos in e+e? and e?γ collisions

Light gravitino productions in association with a neutralino (selectron) in e ⁺ e ⁻ (e ⁻ γ) collisions are restudied in a scenario that the lightest supersymmetric particle is a gravitino and the produced neutralino (selectron) promptly decays into a photon (electron) and a gravitino. We explicitly give the helicity amplitudes for the production processes by using the effective goldstino interaction Lagrangian, and present the cross sections with different collision energies and mass spectra. We also examine selection efficiencies by kinematical cuts and beam polarizations for the signal and background processes, and show that the energy and angular distributions of the photon (electron) can explore the mass of the t-channel exchange particle as well as the mass of the decaying particle at a future e ⁺ e ⁻ (e ⁻ γ) collider.     

The lay-out of the photon collider at the international linear collider

One of the interaction regions at the linear colliders should be compatible both with e ⁺ e ⁻ and γγ, γe modes of operation. In this paper, the differences in requirements and possible design solutions are discussed.      

Colliding beam test of neutral isoscalar axial current

We discuss the condition for the presence of isoscalar parity violating neutral currents and notice that it is present in most gauge-theoretic models of weak interactions. We investigate the possibility of testing its presence in e⁺e⁻ colliding beams and find that parity violation in the reaction e⁺e⁻→Λ^°Λ^° would provide an unambiguous test for such a current.     

Probing the photon at γe-colliders

We investigate the feasibility of studying the photon structure function at a e-collider. We show that the deep inelastic probe of the real photon by a highly virtual photon in such a collider will extend significantly thex andQ ² range presently accessible ate ⁺ e ^– colliders. In addition, we study the production of large transverse momentum dijet final states to determine the sensitivity of these cross sections to different parametrisations of the quark and gluon distributions in the photon.     

Some consequences of neutral current systematics

Two kinds of general consequences of the ΔS=0 weak hadron neutral current independent of a gauge model are presented. Firstly are results which depend on the quark parton model. These involve bounds among neutrino inclusive cross-section and a bound onQ(Z, N) in terms of these inclusive cross-sections. Secondly are results which are independent of the quark-parton model and depend only on the SU(3) structure of the most general ΔS=0 neutral current. These tests of isopin and speciallyU-spin properties of the current are given forv+N→v+hadron+anything,v+N→v+baryon+meson ande ⁺ e ⁻→baryon+anti-baryon. In addition some conjectures are made with regard to the semi-inclusive neutrino-reactions using the quark parton model.     

Recent results on resolved photon processes

During the last 18 months, experiments at bothe ⁺ e ⁻ andep colliders have begun to test earlier predictions for processes that probe the hadronic structure of the photon. All the main qualitative predictions have already been verified; more detailed analyses are now starting to improve our quantitative understanding of photon structure functions. Some comments on minijets and total cross sections are also included.     

Production of electron-positron pairs by a photon propagating in a strongly magnetized thermal bath

The production of electron-positron pairs by a photon propagating in a thermal bath in both zero and strong (B ≫ 4.41 × 10¹³ G) magnetic fields has been considered. The mean free path has been calculated for the high-energy photon propagating through a thermodynamically equilibrium photon gas along the magnetic field lines so that the γ → e ⁻ e ⁺ decay is kinematically forbidden. It has been shown that the strong magnetic field suppresses the probability of the γγ′ → e ⁻ e ⁺ process. The analyzed process can be useful for analysis of possible mechanisms of the generation of the e ⁻ e ⁺ plasma in the regions of the polar caps of magnetars.     

Revisiting unitarity corrections for electromagnetic processes in collisions of relativistic nuclei

Unitarity corrections to several electromagnetic processes in collisions of relativistic heavy nuclei are considered. They are due to the unitarity requirement for the S-matrix and correspond to the exchange of a light-by-light scattering block between colliding nuclei. We obtain improved results for the corrections to e ⁺  e ⁻ and μ ⁺ μ ⁻ pair production as well as new results for unitarity corrections to the production of photons via virtual Compton and virtual Delbrück scattering. These corrections can be numerically large; e.g., the μ ⁺ μ ⁻ pair production cross section is reduced by about 50% and nuclear bremsstrahlung by about 15÷20%.     

Recent KLOE results on hadron physics

The KLOE experiment at the Frascati e ⁺ e ^- collider DAFNE has completed this year its data taking. An integrated luminosity of 2.7fb^-1 has been collected mostly at the φ-resonance peak. A wide experimental program is in progress. The detection of φ radiative decays allows to study the properties of the lowest-mass scalar and pseudoscalar mesons and to obtain information on their structure. The main results are reviewed together with the prospects for low-energy e ⁺ e ^- physics at Frascati.     

The E687 cryptoexotic vector meson candidate

A new study of the dip observed at 1.9GeV by the Fermilab experiment E687 in diffractive photoproduction of 3π ⁺3π ^- is presented. The E687 and the BABAR data on the annihilation cross-section σ(e ⁺ e ^-→3π ⁺3π ^-), obtained with initial-state radiation, are fitted all together. The fit function is based on a simple mixing mechanism that explains the manifestation of a resonance as a dip. Possible interpretations in terms of hybrids and tetraquark states are considered.     

Radiative decays,photoproduction and total cross section of theψ particles

It is pointed out that the coupling characterizing theψ-γ vertex must change substantially between the limits,ψ on mass-shell which occurs inψ→e ⁺ e ⁻ and photon on mass-shell which is relevant in radiative decays likeψ→ππγ, ψ→ηγ and photoproduction ofψ. This has the consequence that the value ofψN total cross section must be larger than what is inferred from the use of naive vector dominance in photoproduction.     

Transverse polarization in <Emphasis Type="Italic">γZ,H Z</Emphasis> production

With the use of transverse polarization (TP), a CP-odd and T-odd observable can be constructed when the final-state particles are self-conjugate. In the case of HZ production, this observable can be used to probe a certain effective four-point e ⁺ e ⁻ ZH CP-violating coupling, not accessible without TP. Effective CP-violating ZZH coupling does not contribute to this observable. A similar observable in γZ production can be used to probe e ⁺ e ⁻ γZ four-point couplings.      

Measurement of photons via conversion pairs in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV Au+Au collisions with the PHENIX experiment at RHIC

Thermal photons can provide information on the temperature of the new state of matter created at RHIC. In the p_T region of 1–3 GeV/c thermal photons are expected to be the dominant direct photon source. Therefore, a possible excess compared to a pure decay photon signal due to a thermal photon contribution should be seen in the double ratio (γ/γ(π⁰))_Measured/(γ/γ(π⁰))_Simulated, if sufficient accuracy can be reached. We present a method to reconstruct direct photons by measuring e⁺e^--pairs from external photon conversions.