A search for neutral Higgs bosons in the MSSM and models with two scalar field doublets

A search is described for the neutral Higgs bosons and predicted by models with two scalar field doublets and, in particular, the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The search in the and production channels is based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 25 pb from collisions at centre-of-mass energies between 130 and 172 GeV collected with the OPAL detector at LEP. The observation of a number of candidates consistent with Standard Model background expectations is used in combination with earlier results from data collected at the resonance to set limits on and in general models with two scalar field doublets and in the MSSM. For example, in the MSSM, for , minimal and maximal scalar top quark mixing and soft SUSY-breaking masses of 1 TeV, the 95% confidence level limits GeV and GeV are obtained. For the first time, the MSSM parameter space is explored in a detailed scan. Received: 20 February 1998 / Published online: 13 July 1998     

Search for neutralino pair production at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV

A search for pair-production of neutralinos at a LEP centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV gave no evidence for a signal. This limits the neutralino production cross-section and excludes regions in the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). Received: 22 November 2000 / Revised version: 11 January 2001 / Published online: 15 March 2001     

Final results from DELPHI on the searches for SM and MSSM neutral Higgs bosons

These final results from DELPHI searches for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson, together with benchmark scans of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) neutral Higgs bosons, used data taken at centre-of-mass energies between 200 and 209 GeV with a total integrated luminosity of 224 pb^-1. The data from 192 to 202 GeV are reanalysed with improved b-tagging for MSSM final states decaying to four b-quarks. The 95% confidence level lower mass bound on the Standard Model Higgs boson is 114.1 GeV/c ². Limits are also given on the lightest scalar and pseudo-scalar Higgs bosons of the MSSM.Received: 7 March 2003, Revised: 30 September 2003, Published online: 3 December 2003     

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons at LEP

The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for the neutral Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The data of the four collaborations are statistically combined and examined for their consistency with the background hypothesis and with a possible Higgs boson signal. The combined LEP data show no significant excess of events which would indicate the production of Higgs bosons. The search results are used to set upper bounds on the cross-sections of various Higgs-like event topologies. The results are interpreted within the MSSM in a number of “benchmark” models, including CP-conserving and CP-violating scenarios. These interpretations lead in all cases to large exclusions in the MSSM parameter space. Absolute limits are set on the parameter cosβ and, in some scenarios, on the masses of neutral Higgs bosons.     

On the NN final-state interaction in the <Superscript>16</Superscript>O (e,e<Superscript>′</Superscript>pp) reaction

The influence of the mutual interaction between the two outgoing nucleons (NN-FSI) in the ¹⁶O(e, e'pp) reaction has been investigated. Results for various kinematics are discussed. In general, the effect of NN-FSI depends on kinematics and the chosen final state in the excitation spectrum of ¹⁴C. Received: 19 December 2002 / Accepted: 6 February 2003 / Published online: 15 April 2003     

Searches for invisibly decaying Higgs bosonswith the DELPHI detector at LEP

Searches for H Z production with the Higgs boson decaying into an invisible final state were performed using the data collected by the DELPHI experiment at centre-of-mass energies between 188 GeV and 209 GeV. Both hadronic and leptonic final states of the Z boson were analysed. In addition to the search for a heavy Higgs boson, a dedicated search for a light Higgs boson down to 40 GeV/c² was performed. No signal was found. Assuming the Standard Model HZ production cross-section, the mass limit for invisibly decaying Higgs bosons is 112.1 GeV/c² at 95% confidence level. An interpretation in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) and in a Majoron model is also given.Received: 2 September 2003, Revised: 10 November 2003, Published online: 15 January 2004     

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.     

Search for Higgs bosons in {\rm e^+e^-} collisions at 183 GeV

The data collected by the OPAL experiment at GeV were used to search for Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Standard Model and various extensions, such as general models with two Higgs field doublets and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of approximately 54 pb. None of the searches for neutral and charged Higgs bosons have revealed an excess of events beyond the expected background. This negative outcome, in combination with similar results from searches at lower energies, leads to new limits for the Higgs boson masses and other model parameters. In particular, the 95% confidence level lower limit for the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson is 88.3 GeV. Charged Higgs bosons can be excluded for masses up to 59.5 GeV. In the MSSM, GeV and GeV are obtained for , no and maximal scalar top mixing and soft SUSY-breaking masses of 1 TeV. The range is excluded for minimal scalar top mixing and GeV. More general scans of the MSSM parameter space are also considered. Received: 27 October 1998 / Published online: 19 February 1999     

Theoretical upper bound on the mass of the LSP in the MNSSM

We study the neutralino sector of the Minimal Non-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MNSSM) where the μ problem of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is solved without accompanying problems related with the appearance of domain walls. In the MNSSM as in the MSSM the lightest neutralino can be the absolutely stable lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) providing a good candidate for the cold dark matter component of the Universe. In contrast with the MSSM the allowed range of the mass of the lightest neutralino in the MNSSM is limited. We establish the theoretical upper bound on the lightest neutralino mass in the framework of this model and obtain an approximate solution for this mass.     

Updated estimate of the muon magnetic momentusing revised results from <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript> + </Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>-</Superscript>annihilation

A new evaluation of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon magnetic moment is presented. We take into account the reanalysis of the low-energy e ⁺ e ^-annihilation cross section into hadrons by the CMD-2 Collaboration. The agreement between e ⁺ e ^-and spectral functions in the channel is found to be much improved. Nevertheless, significant discrepancies remain in the center-of-mass energy range between 0.85 and , so that we refrain from averaging the two data sets. The values found for the lowest-order hadronic vacuum polarization contributions are where the errors have been separated according to their sources: experimental, missing radiative corrections in e ⁺ e ^-data, and isospin breaking. The corresponding Standard Model predictions for the muon magnetic anomaly read where the errors account for the hadronic, light-by-light (LBL) scattering and electroweak contributions. The deviations from the measurement at BNL are found to be (1.9 ) and (0.7 ) for the e ⁺ e ^-- and -based estimates, respectively, where the second error is from the LBL contribution and the third one from the BNL measurement.Received: 7 September 2003, Published online: 30 October 2003     

The correction of the littlest Higgs model to the Higgs production process e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript>→e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript>H at the ILC

The littlest Higgs model is the most economical one among various little Higgs models. In the context of the littlest Higgs model, we study the process e⁺e^-→e⁺e^-H at the ILC and calculate the correction of the littlest Higgs model to the cross section of this process. The results show that, in the favorable parameter spaces preferred by the electroweak precision data, the value of the relative correction is in the range from a few percent to tens percent. In most cases, the correction is large enough to reach the measurement precision of the ILC. Therefore, the correction of the littlest Higgs model to the process e⁺e^-→e⁺e^-H might be detected at the ILC, which will give an ideal way to test the model. PACS 12.60.Nz; 14.80.Mz; 12.15.Lk; 14.65.Ha     

Spin correlations in elastic e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript> scattering in QED

Spin correlations are carefully investigated in elastic e⁺e^- scattering in QED, for initially polarized as well as unpolarized particles, with emphasis placed on energy or speed of the underlying particles involved in the process. An explicit expression is derived for the corresponding transition probabilities in closed form to the leading order. These expressions differ from those obtained from simply combining the spins of the relevant particles, which are of kinematic nature. It is remarkable that these explicit results obtained from quantum field theory show a clear violation of Bell's inequality at all energies, in support of quantum theory in the relativistic regime. We hope that our explicit expression will lead to experiments, of the type described in the bulk of this paper, that monitor speed.     

Status of the N<Superscript>*</Superscript> program at Jefferson Lab

Recent results in electromagnetic excitation of nucleon resonance are presented, and confronted with theoretical predictions. Preliminary data in the search for missing states are discussed as well.Received: 1 November 2002, Published online: 15 July 2003PACS: 13.60.Le Meson production - 13.88.+e Polarization in interactions and scattering     

Bino-driven electroweak baryogenesis with highly suppressed electric dipole moments

It is conventional wisdom that successful electroweak baryogenesis in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) is in tension with the non-observation of electric dipole moments (EDMs), since the level of CP-violation responsible for electroweak baryogenesis is believed to generate unavoidably large EDMs. We show that CP-violation in the bino–Higgsino sector of the MSSM can account for successful electroweak baryogenesis without inducing large EDMs. This observation weakens the correlation between electroweak baryogenesis and EDMs, and makes the bino-driven electroweak baryogenesis scenario the least constrained by EDM limits. Taking this observation together with the requirement of a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition, we argue that a bino-driven scenario with a light stop is the most phenomenologically viable MSSM electroweak baryogenesis scenario.     

The Higgs boson: shall we see it soon or is it still far away?

The status of the Higgs boson mass in the Standard Model and its supersymmetric extensions is reviewed and the perspectives of Higgs searches are discussed. The parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is analysed with the emphasis on the lightest Higgs mass. The infrared behaviour of renormalization group equations for the parameters of MSSM is examined and infrared quasi-fixed points are used for the Higgs mass predictions. They strongly suggest the Higgs mass to be lighter than 100 or 130 GeV for low and high tan β scenarios, respectively. Extended models, however, allow one to increase these limits for low tan β up to 50%.     

Lepton flavor violating signals of a little Higgs model at high energy linear e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript> colliders

The littlest Higgs (LH) model predicts the existence of the doubly charged scalars , which generally have large flavor changing couplings to leptons. We calculate the contributions of Φ^±± to the lepton flavor violating (LFV) processes l_i→l_jγ and l_i→l_jl_kl_k, and we compare our numerical results with the current experimental upper limits on these processes. We find that some of these processes can give severe constraints on the coupling constant Y_ij and the mass parameter M_Φ. Taking into account the constraints on these free parameters, we further discuss the possible lepton flavor violating signals of at high energy linear e⁺e^- collider (ILC) experiments. Our numerical results show that the possible signals of might be detected via the subprocesses e^±e^±→l^±l^± in future ILC experiments.     

QED radiative corrections to the decay π<Superscript>0</Superscript>→e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript>

We reconsider QED radiative corrections (RC) to the π⁰→e⁺e^- decay width. One kind of RC investigated earlier has a renormalization group origin and can be associated with the final state interaction of electron and positron. It determines the distribution of lepton pair invariant masses in the whole kinematic region. The other type of RC has a double-logarithmic character and is related to almost on-mass-shell behavior of the lepton form factors. The total effect of RC for π⁰→e⁺e^- decay is estimated to be 3.2%, and for η→e⁺e^- decay it is 4.3%. PACS  13.25.Cq; 12.38.Lg; 12.38.-t     

Hadron multiplicities in e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript> annihilation with heavy primary quarks

The multiple hadron production in the events induced by the heavy primary quarks in e⁺e^- annihilation is reconsidered with account of corrected experimental data. A new value for the multiplicity in bb̄ events is presented on the basis of pQCD estimates.     

Signals of universality violation in e<Superscript>+</Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript> collisions

We examine distributions of leptons produced in e⁺e^- collisions, by a family nonuniversal extra gauge boson Z^′, suggested by the model, and by other neutral gauge bosons occurring in left–right symmetric models and in superstring-inspired E₆ models. We discuss how to distinguish the models by examining the couplings to fermions of the extra Z-boson through its leptonic production cross sections and asymmetries. We show how the universality violation inherent in the model enhances the discovery potential of Z^′ at future planned and proposed e⁺e^- colliders.     

e<Superscript> + </Superscript>e<Superscript>-</Superscript>-pair production in Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present the combined results on electron-pair production in 158 GeV/n Pb-Au ( = 17.2 GeV) collisions taken at the CERN SPS in 1995 and 1996, and give a detailed account of the data analysis. The enhancement over the reference of neutral meson decays amounts to a factor of 2.31 for semi-central collisions (28 ) when yields are integrated over m > 200 MeV/c² in invariant mass. The measured yield, its stronger-than-linear scaling with , and the dominance of low pair p_t strongly suggest an interpretation as thermal radiation from pion annihilation in the hadronic fireball. The shape of the excess centring at 500 MeV/c², however, cannot be described without strong medium modifications of the meson. The results are put into perspective by comparison to predictions from Brown-Rho scaling governed by chiral symmetry restoration, and from the spectral-function many-body treatment in which the approach to the phase boundary is less explicit.Received: 2 March 2005, Published online: 8 June 2005