Associated production of sfermions and gauginos at high-energy ee colliders

In the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model, we analyze the production at future high-energy e ⁺ e ^- colliders of second and third generation scalar leptons as well as scalar quarks in association with neutralinos and charginos, . In the case of third generation squarks, we also discuss the associated production with gluinos. We show that the cross sections for some of these three-body final state processes could be significant enough to allow for the detection of scalar fermions with masses above the kinematical two-body threshold, . We then discuss, taking as a reference example the case of scalar muons, the production cross sections in various approximations and make a comparison with the full four-body production process, , in particular around the two-sfermion threshold. Received: 27 June 2002 / Published online: 20 September 2002     

Slepton production at e + e - and e - e - linear colliders

High-precision analyses are presented for the production of scalar sleptons, selectrons and smuons in supersymmetric theories, at future e ⁺ e^- and e^-e^- linear colliders. Threshold production can be exploited for measurements of the selectron and smuon masses, an essential ingredient for the reconstruction of the fundamental supersymmetric theory at high scales. The production of selectrons in the continuum will allow us to determine the Yukawa couplings in the selectron sector, scrutinizing the identity of the Yukawa and gauge couplings, which is a basic consequence of supersymmetry. The theoretical predictions are elaborated at the one-loop level in the continuum, while at threshold non-zero width effects and Sommerfeld rescattering corrections are included. The phenomenological analyses are performed for e ⁺ e^- and e^-e^- linear colliders with energy up to about 1 TeV and with high integrated luminosity up to 1 ab^-1 to cover the individual slepton channels separately with high precision.Received: 21 October 2003, Revised: 12 January 2004, Published online: 23 April 2004     

New fermions at e+e− colliders II. Signals and backgrounds

We discuss the production, at high-energye ⁺ e ^– linear colliders, of new heavy fermions predicted by extensions of the Standard Model. We analyze in great details the various signals and the corresponding backgrounds for both pair production and single production in association with ordinary fermions. Concentrating on new leptons, we use a model detector fore ⁺ e ^– collisions at a center of mass energy of 500 GeV, to illustrate the discovery potential of the next linear colliders.     

The reconstruction of supersymmetric theories at high energy scales

The reconstruction of fundamental parameters in supersymmetric theories requires the evolution to high scales, where the characteristic regularities in mechanisms of supersymmetry breaking become manifest. We have studied a set of representative examples in this context: minimal supergravity and a left-right symmetric extension; gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking; and superstring effective field theories. Through the evolution of the parameters from the electroweak scale the regularities in different scenarios at the high scales can be unravelled if precision analyses of the supersymmetric particle sector at e ⁺ e ^- linear colliders are combined with analyses at the LHC. Received: 25 November 2002 / Published online: 31 January 2003     

Sneutrino production at <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript> + </Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>-</Superscript> linear colliders: addendum to slepton production

Complementing the preceding study of charged scalar leptons, the sector of the neutral scalar leptons, sneutrinos, is investigated in a high-precision analysis for future e ⁺ e ^- linear colliders. The theoretical predictions for the cross-sections are calculated at the thresholds for non-zero widths and in the continuum including higher-order corrections at the one-loop level. Methods for measuring the sneutrino masses and the electron-sneutrino-gaugino Yukawa couplings are presented, addressing theoretical problems specific for the sneutrino channels.Received: 10 September 2004, Revised: 11 October 2004, Published online: 3 March 2005     

Selectron pair production at e - e - and e + e - colliders with polarized beams

We investigate selectron pair production and decay in e ^- e ^- scattering and e ⁺ e ^- annihilation with polarized beams taking into account neutralino mixing as well as initial state radiation and beamstrahlung corrections. One of the main advantages of having both modes at disposal is their complementarity concerning the threshold behavior of selectron pair production. In e ^- e ^- the cross sections at threshold for and increase proportional to the momentum of the selectron and in e ⁺ e ^- that for . Measurements at threshold with polarized beams can be used to determine the selectron masses precisely. Moreover we discuss how polarized electron and positron beams can be used to establish directly the weak quantum numbers of the selectrons. We also use selectron pair production to determine the gaugino mass parameter M₁. This is of particular interest for scenarios with non-universal gaugino masses at a high scale resulting in at the electroweak scale. Moreover, we consider also the case of non-vanishing selectron mixing and demonstrate that it leads to a significant change in the phenomenology of selectrons. Received: 30 January 2002 / Published online: 8 May 2002     

Virtual effects of split-SUSY in Higgs productions at linear colliders

In split supersymmetry, gauginos and higgsinos are the only supersymmetric particles possibly accessible at foreseeable colliders like the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the International Linear Collider (ILC). In order to account for the cosmic dark matter measured by WMAP, these gauginos and higgsinos are stringently constrained and could be explored at the colliders through their direct productions and/or virtual effects in some processes. The clean environment and high luminosity of the ILC render the virtual effects at percent level meaningful in unraveling the new physics effects. In this work we assume split supersymmetry and calculate the virtual effects of the WMAP-allowed gauginos and higgsinos in the Higgs productions e⁺e^-→Zh and e⁺e^-→ν_eν̄_eh through WW fusion at the ILC. We find that the production cross section of e⁺e^-→Zh can be altered by a few percent in some part of the WMAP-allowed parameter space, while the correction to the WW fusion process e⁺e^-→ν_eν̄_eh is below 1%. Such virtual effects are correlated with the cross sections of chargino pair productions and can offer complementary information in probing split supersymmetry at the colliders. PACS 14.80.Ly; 95.35.+d     

Graviton resonances in e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript>→μ<Superscript>+</Superscript>μ<Superscript>-</Superscript> at linear colliders with beamstrahlung and ISR effects

The electromagnetic radiation emitted by colliding beams is expected to play an important role at the next generation of high energy e⁺e^- linear colliders. Focussing on the simplest process, e⁺e^-→μ⁺μ^-, we show that, for suitable machine parameters and luminosity, radiative effects like initial state radiation (ISR) and beamstrahlung can be used to search for resonant graviton modes of the Randall–Sundrum model in an efficient manner.     

Resolved photon processes

We review high-energy scattering processes that are sensitive to the hadronic structure of the photon, describing theoretical predictions as well as recent experimental results. These processes include deep-inelastic electron-photon scattering ate ⁺ e ⁻ colliders; and the production of jets, heavy quarks and isolated photons in the collision of real photons ate ⁺ e ⁻ colliders, as well as in photon-photon collisions atep colliders. We also comment on minijet based calculations of totalγp andγγ cross-sections, and discuss the possibility that future lineare ⁺ e ⁻ colliders might produce very large photon fluxes due to the beamstrahlung phenomenon; in the most extreme cases, we predict more than one hadronicγγ event to occur at every bunch crossing.     

Generation-changing interaction of sneutrinos in <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript> + </Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>-</Superscript> collisions

The measurability of generation mixing is studied on pair production of sneutrinos in e ⁺ e ^- collisions and their subsequent decays into two different charged leptons e and μ with two lighter charginos. The analyses are made systematically in a general framework of the supersymmetric extension of the standard model. The production and decay process depends on the parameters of the chargino sector as well as those of the sneutrino sector. Although generation-changing interactions are severely constrained by radiative charged-lepton decays, sizable regions in the parameter space could still be explored at e ⁺ e ^- colliders in the near future. Received: 6 October 2004, Revised: 14 November 2004, Published online: 14 January 2005 PACS: 11.30.Hv, 12.15.Ff, 12.60.Jv, 14.80.Ly     

New resonance production in e+e− collisions

Based on the large rate of radiative Z decays, estimates for production and subsequent γ decay of possible narrow scalar or vector resonances are derived for e⁺e^? colliders. From this, also model-independent lower bounds on their total production rates can be deduced. γγ experiments could set stringent limits on masses and widths of (pseudo) scalar states.     

Spin analysis of supersymmetric particles

The spin of supersymmetric particles can be determined at e⁺e^- colliders unambiguously. This is demonstrated for a characteristic set of non-colored supersymmetric particles – smuons, selectrons, and charginos/neutralinos. The analysis is based on the threshold behavior of the excitation curves for pair production in e⁺e^- collisions, the angular distribution in the production process and decay angular distributions. In the first step we present the observables in the helicity formalism for the supersymmetric particles. Subsequently we confront the results with corresponding analyses of Kaluza–Klein particles in theories of universal extra space dimensions which behave distinctly different from supersymmetric theories. It is shown in the third step that a set of observables can be designed which signal the spin of supersymmetric particles unambiguously without any model assumptions. Finally in the fourth step it is demonstrated that the determination of the spin of supersymmetric particles can be performed experimentally in practice at an e⁺e^- collider.     

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.     

Excited fermions ate + e − andeP colliders

We analyse the discovery potentials of future colliders with respect to excited fermions which are expected in models of fermionic substructure. After discussing the possibilities offered by LEP, we will consider in detail the Next Linear Collider in itse ⁺ e ^?,eγ and γγ modes [where the high-energy photon beams are obtained through back-scattering of laser light]. In addition, sinceeP colliders are well adapted to the search of the first generation of excited leptons, we include a study of their possible manifestation at HERA and LEP/LHC. We give complete and compact formulae for decay widths, production cross sections and angular distributions. Furthermore, we analyse in some detail the polarisation of the produced excited fermions which allows for an easy reconstruction of the correlations between the initial state and the decay products of the heavy fermions.     

Measurement of the $b\overline{b}$ production cross section in 920 GeV fixed-target proton-nucleus collisions

Using the HERA - B detector, the production cross section has been measured in 920 GeV proton collisions on carbon and titanium targets. The production was tagged via inclusive bottom quark decays into by exploiting the longitudinal separation of decay vertices from the primary proton-nucleus interaction. Both e ⁺ e ^- and channels have been reconstructed and the combined analysis yields the cross section . Received: 6 June 2002 / Revised version: 2 September 2002 / Published online: 8 November 2002     

Probing top-quark couplings indirectly at Higgs factories

We perform a global effective-field-theory analysis to assess the combined precision of Higgs couplings,triple gauge-boson couplings, and top-quark couplings, at future circular e~+e~- colliders, with a focus on runs below the tt production threshold. Deviations in the top-quark sector entering as one-loop corrections are consistently taken into account in the Higgs and diboson processes. We find that future lepton colliders running at center-of-mass energies below the tt production threshold can still provide useful information on top-quark couplings, by measuring virtual top-quark effects. With rate and differential measurements, the indirect individual sensitivity achievable is better than at the high-luminosity LHC. However, strong correlations between the extracted top-quark and Higgs couplings are also present and lead to much weaker global constraints on top-quark couplings. This implies that a direct probe of top-quark couplings above the tt production threshold is also helpful for the determination of Higgs and triple-gauge-boson couplings. In addition, we find that below the e~+e~-→tth production threshold, the top-quark Yukawa coupling can be determined by its loop corrections to all Higgs production and decay channels. Degeneracy with the ggh coupling can be resolved, and even a global limit is competitive with the prospects of a linear collider above the threshold. This provides an additional means of determining the top-quark Yukawa coupling indirectly at lepton colliders.     

S earch for anomalous production of di-l epton ev ents with missing transv ers e mom entum in e + e- collisions at $\sqrt{s} = {}$183-209 G eV

In total 1317 di-lepton events with significant missing transverse momentum were identified in a total data sample of 680 pb^-1 collected at e ⁺ e^- centre-of-mass energies ranging from 183 GeV to 209 GeV. The number of di-lepton events, the dependence on centre-of-mass energy, and the event properties are consistent with expectations from Standard Model processes, predominantly W ⁺ W^- production with both W bosons decaying leptonically. This topology is also an experimental signature for the pair production of new particles that decay to a charged lepton accompanied by one or more invisible particles. No evidence for new phenomena is apparent. Upper limits are presented on the production cross-section multiplied by the relevant branching ratio squared for sleptons, leptonically decaying charginos and charged Higgs bosons. Mass limits are also given.Received: 14 July 2003, Published online: 9 January 2004     

Probing scalar particle and unparticle couplings in e^{+}e^{-}\to t\bar{t} with transversely polarized beams

In searching for indications of new-physics scalar particle and unparticle couplings in $e^{+}e^{-}\to t\bar{t}$ , we consider the role of transversely polarized initial beams at e ⁺ e ^? colliders. By using a general relativistic spin density matrix formalism for describing the particles spin states, we find analytical expressions for the differential cross section of the process with t or $\bar{t}$ polarization measured, including the anomalous coupling contributions. Thanks to the transversely polarized initial beams these contributions are first order anomalous coupling corrections to the Standard Model (SM) contributions. We present and analyze the main features of the SM and anomalous coupling contributions. We show how differences between SM and anomalous coupling contributions provide means to search for anomalous coupling manifestations at future e ⁺ e ^? linear colliders.     

Registration of hydrogen-like leptonic bound states ( e-μ+) and ( e+μ-) in reactions of high-energy scattering of polarized electrons and positrons by nuclei with Z ～ 100 and analysis of CPT invariance

The cross-sections for the reactions of muonium (anti-muonium) production in the high-energy electron (positron) scattering by nuclei e ^-(e ⁺) + Z↦Z + M ⁰(ˉM) + μ^-(μ⁺) are calculated in dependence on energy and polarization of the initial electron (positron) and polarization of the final μ^-(μ⁺)-meson. Since this is a coherent phenomenon the cross-sections are proportional to Z². For Z ∼ 100, due to the factor Z², the cross-sections are large enough to be measured at the energies available for the HERA Collider at DESY. The results are discussed in connection with a test of CPT invariance. Received: 24 September 2002 / Accepted: 12 March 2003 / Published online: 27 May 2003     

Supersymmetry and polarization in e+e− collisions (II). Fermionic partners of the gauge bosons

We study the pair production of fermionic partners of the gauge bosons in e⁺e^? collisions with polarized beams. We calculate the cross sections and the spin asymmetries for various processes using different models for the basic properties of gauginos. If they exist and if they are rather light, they should be discovered in future e⁺e^? colliders. We show that polarization provides very special signatures for their experimental search.