Physics with tagged forward protons at the LHC

We emphasize the importance of tagging the outgoing forward protons to sharpen the predictions for New Physics at the LHC (such as the diffractive production of a light Higgs boson). The rescattering effects lead to a rich distinctive structure of the cross section as a function of the transverse momenta of the protons. We show that a study of the correlations between the proton transverse momenta for double-diffractive production of central dijets will provide a detailed check of the whole diffractive formalism. Adopting a perturbative two-gluon structure of the Pomeron, we emphasize that quarkonium production, via Pomeron-Pomeron fusion, is strongly suppressed. This offers a favourable production mechanism for non- states, such as glueballs. Received: 15 March 2002 / Published online: 21 June 2002     

Investigation of top mass measurements with the ATLAS detector at LHC

The European Physical Journal C - Several methods for the determination of the mass of the top quark with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented. All dominant decay channels of the top quark...     

Discovery potential for a charged Higgs boson decaying in the chargino-neutralino channel of the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The European Physical Journal C -     

Heavy-ion reactions at forward angles with CMS (LHC)

Reactions seen only in cosmic rays will be studied by three forward angle, θ<5.7° (|η|>3), detectors at CMS. These detectors look at ?erenkov radiation from quartz fibers embedded in a heavy-metal matrix to deal with the exceptionally large particle fluxes.     

Precise predictions for same-sign W-boson scattering at the LHC

Vector-boson scattering processes are of great importance for the current run-II and future runs of the Large Hadron Collider. The presence of triple and quartic gauge couplings in the process gives access to the gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) and possible new-physics contributions there. To test any new-physics hypothesis, sound knowledge of the SM contributions is necessary, with a precision which at least matches the experimental uncertainties of existing and forthcoming measurements. In this article we present a detailed study of the vector-boson scattering process with two positively-charged leptons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In particular, we first carry out a systematic comparison of the various approximations that are usually performed for this kind of process against the complete calculation, at LO and NLO QCD accuracy. Such a study is performed both in the usual fiducial region used by experimental collaborations and in a more inclusive phase space, where the differences among the various approximations lead to more sizeable effects. Afterwards, we turn to predictions matched to parton showers, at LO and NLO: we show that on the one hand, the inclusion of NLO QCD corrections leads to more stable predictions, but on the other hand the details of the matching and of the parton-shower programs cause differences which are considerably larger than those observed at fixed order, even in the experimental fiducial region. We conclude with recommendations for experimental studies of vector-boson scattering processes.     

From the exclusive photoproduction of heavy quarkonia at HERA to the EDDE at TeVatron and LHC

Exclusive photoproduction of heavy quarkonia at HERA is analyzed within the framework of the Regge-eikonal approach together with the nonrelativistic bound state formalism. Total and differential cross-sections for the process + p (Q )_1S + p are calculated. The model predicts cross-sections of Exclusive Double Diffractive Events (EDDE) at TeVatron and LHC.     

Detecting heavy charged Higgs bosons at the LHC with triple b-tagging

We investigate the charged Higgs boson signal at the LHC using its dominant production and decay modes with triple b-tagging, i.e. , followed by leptonic decay of one W and hadronic decay of the other. We consider the continuum background from the associated production of with a b- or a light quark or gluon jet, which can be mis-tagged as b-jet. We reconstruct the top quark masses to identify the 3rd b-jet accompanying the pair, and use its p_T distribution to distinguish the signal from the background. Combining this with the reconstruction of the H^± mass gives a viable signature over two interesting regions of the parameter space – i.e. tanβ1 and m_t/m_b.     

Production of charged Higgs bosons at LHC in light-quark annihilation

The CMS potential (at LHC) for seeking the production of a charged Higgs boson is investigated for large values of tan β (between 20 and 50) and a relatively light charged Higgs boson M _H = 200–400 GeV). A simple parametrization is proposed for the

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distributions of signal and background events. The possibility of measuring the mass of the charged Higgs boson and tan β is investigated.

     

Prospects for the measurement of B 0 s oscillations with the ATLAS detector at LHC

The feasibility for mass measurements of supersymmetric particles from minimal gauge mediated models in the ATLAS detector at the large hadron collider is studied using parameterized simulations. The covered models are characterized by having the supersymmetric tau as the only next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP). Given independent measurements of the lightest Higgs mass and the NLSP lifetime, a sufficient number of supersymmetric particle mass measurements are performed such that all underlying model parameters are constrained.     

BSM Higgs physics in the exclusive forward proton mode at the LHC

We investigate the prospects for Central Exclusive Diffractive (CED) production of BSM Higgs bosons at the LHC using forward proton detectors installed at 220 m and 420 m distance around ATLAS and/or CMS. We update a previous analysis for the MSSM taking into account improvements in the theoretical calculations and the most recent exclusion bounds from the Tevatron. We extend the MSSM analysis to new benchmark scenarios that are in agreement with the cold dark matter relic abundance and other precision measurements. We analyze the exclusive production of Higgs bosons in a model with a fourth generation of fermions. Finally, we comment on the determination of Higgs spin–parity and coupling structures at the LHC and show that the forward proton mode could provide crucial information on the CP\mathcal{CP} properties of the Higgs bosons.     

Studying the MSSM Higgs sector by forward proton tagging at the LHC

We show that the use of forward proton detectors at the LHC installed at 220 m and 420 m distance around ATLAS and/or CMS can provide important information on the Higgs sector of the MSSM. We analyse central exclusive production of the neutral -even Higgs bosons h and H and their decays into bottom quarks, τ leptons and W bosons in various MSSM benchmark scenarios. Using plausible estimates for the achievable experimental efficiencies and the relevant background processes, we find that the prospective sensitivity of the diffractive Higgs production will allow one to probe interesting regions of the M_A–tanβ parameter plane of the MSSM. Central exclusive production of the -even Higgs bosons of the MSSM may provide a unique opportunity to access the bottom Yukawa couplings of the Higgs bosons up to masses of M_H≲ 250 GeV. We also discuss the prospects for identifying the -odd Higgs boson, A, in diffractive processes at the LHC.     

Extending physics capabilities of the PHENIX detector with calorimetry at forward rapidities

The PHENIX detector at RHIC has been designed to study different signatures of the states of matter created in heavy-ion collisions, and to investigate the spin structure of the nucleon. The PHENIX detector measures muons in two muon spectrometers, located at forward rapidities (1.2 < |η| < 2.4) and hadrons, electrons and photons in the two central spectrometers at midrapidity (|η| <0.35). To make a next step in the PHENIX research program, it is necessary to extend the rapidity coverage beyond the limits set by the existing central spectrometer. The functionality of the PHENIX muon detectors can be extended with added capabilities to measure photonic and hadronic jets. Tungsten calorimeters with silicon pixel readout and fine transverse and longitudinal segmentation are proposed to attain this goal. The proposed calorimeters will be located in the forward directions on either side of the PHENIX interaction point. In this talk we report on the studies of the functionality of the proposed calorimeters: the detector energy resolution, the jet reconstruction capabilities and the characteristics of pion rejection.     

Pseudo-rapidity distributions of charged hadrons in pp and pA collisions at the LHC

In the framework of the Color Glass Condensate, the pseudo-rapidity distributions of charged hadrons in pp and pA collisions at the LHC are studied with the UGD function from the GBW model. With a χ² analysis of the CMS data in pp collisions at √s=0.9, 2.36, 7 TeV, the normalization factor is obtained and the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Then, considering the influence of nucleon hard partons transverse distribution on the number of participants in pA collisions by using a Glauber Monte Carlo method, we also give the predictive results for the multiplicity distributions in pPb collisions at √s=4.4 TeV.     

Regge approach to charged pion photoproduction at invariant energies above 2 GeV

A Regge model with absorptive corrections is employed in a global analysis of the world data on positive and negative pion photoproduction for photon energies from 3 to 8GeV. In this region resonance contributions are expected to be negligible so that the available experimental information on differential cross-sections and single polarization observables at - t ⩽ 2 GeV^2 allows us to determine the non-resonant part of the reaction amplitude reliably. The model amplitude is then used to predict observables for photon energies below 3GeV. Differences between our predictions and data in this energy region are systematically examined as possible signals for the presence of excited baryons. We find that the data available for the polarized photon asymmetry show promising resonance signatures at invariant energies around 2GeV. With regard to differential cross-sections the analysis of negative pion photoproduction data, obtained recently at JLab, indicates likewise the presence of resonance structures around 2GeV.     

The photoproduction of neutral pions from protons at forward angles in the resonance region

Differential cross sections for the photoproduction of pi-zero mesons from protons have been measured at angles between 10° and 70° c.m. in the energy range 0.85 GeV to 1.30 GeV. The values are compared with the fits to pion photoproduction data from three recent partial-wave analyses.