Constraints on the MSSM from the Higgs sector

We discuss the constraints on supersymmetry in the Higgs sector arising from LHC searches, rare B decays and dark matter direct detection experiments. We show that constraints derived on the mass of the lightest h ⁰ and the CP-odd A ⁰ bosons from these searches are covering a larger fraction of the SUSY parameter space compared to searches for strongly interacting supersymmetric particle partners. We discuss the implications of a mass determination for the lightest Higgs boson in the range 123<M _h <127?GeV, inspired by the intriguing hints reported by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, as well as those of a non-observation of the lightest Higgs boson for MSSM scenarios not excluded at the end of 2012 by LHC and direct dark matter searches and their implications on LHC SUSY searches.     

A Three Higgs Doublet Model for Fermion Masses

In this paper we propose a possible explanation to the Fermion mass hierarchy problem by fitting the type-II seesaw mechanism into the Higgs doublet sector, such that their vacuum expectation values are hierarchal. We extend the Standard Model with two extra Higgs doublets as well as a spontaneously broken U_X(1) gauge symmetry. All the fermion Yukawa couplings except that of the top quark are of O(10^-2) in our model. Constraints on the parameter space of the model from low energy processes are studied. Besides, the lightest one of the neutral fermion fields, which is introduced to cancel the anomalies of the U(1)_X gauge symmetry can be the cold dark matter candidate. We investigate its signature in the dark matter direct detection.     

Significant gamma lines from inert Higgs dark matter

One way to unambiguously confirm the existence of particle dark matter and determine its mass would be to detect its annihilation into monochromatic gamma-rays in upcoming telescopes. One of the most minimal models for dark matter is the inert doublet model, obtained by adding another Higgs doublet with no direct coupling to fermions. For a mass between 40 and 80 GeV, the lightest of the new inert Higgs particles can give the correct cosmic abundance of cold dark matter in agreement with current observations. We show that for this scalar dark matter candidate, the annihilation signal of monochromatic gammagamma and Zgamma final states would be exceptionally strong. The energy range and rates for these gamma-ray line signals make them ideal to search for with the soon upcoming GLAST satellite.     

Implications of direct dark matter constraints for minimal supersymmetric standard model Higgs boson searches at the Tevatron

In regions of large tanbeta and small mAlpha, searches for heavy neutral minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) Higgs bosons at the Tevatron are promising. At the same time, rates in direct dark matter experiments, such as CDMS, are enhanced in the case of large tanbeta and small mAlpha. As a result, there is a natural interplay between the heavy, neutral Higgs searches at the Tevatron and the region of parameter space explored by CDMS. We show that if the lightest neutralino makes up the dark matter of our universe, current limits from CDMS strongly constrain the prospects of heavy, neutral MSSM Higgs discovery at the Tevatron unless |mu| greater or approximately 400 GeV. The limits of CDMS projected for 2007 will increase this constraint to |mu| greater or approximately 800 GeV. If CDMS does observe neutralinos in the near future, however, it will make the discovery of Higgs bosons at the Tevatron far more likely.     

Dark matter and LHC phenomenology of a scale-invariant scotogenic model

We study the phenomenology of a model that addresses the neutrino mass, dark matter, and generation of the electroweak scale in a single framework. Electroweak symmetry breaking is realized via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism in a classically scale invariant theory, while the neutrino mass is generated radiatively through interactions with dark matter in a typically scotogenic manner. The model introduces a scalar triplet and singlet and a vectorlike fermion doublet that carry an odd parity of Z_2, and an even parity scalar singlet that helps preserve classical scale invariance. We sample over the parameter space by taking into account various experimental constraints from the dark matter relic density and direct detection, direct scalar searches, neutrino mass, and charged lepton flavor violating decays. We then examine by detailed simulations possible signatures at the LHC to find some benchmark points of the free parameters. We find that the future high-luminosity LHC will have a significant potential in detecting new physics signals in the dilepton channel.     

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.     

Scale invariant extension of the standard model with a strongly interacting hidden sector

We present a scale invariant extension of the standard model with a new QCD-like strong interaction in the hidden sector. A scale Λ(H) is dynamically generated in the hidden sector by dimensional transmutation, and chiral symmetry breaking occurs in the hidden sector. This scale is transmitted to the SM sector by a real singlet scalar messenger S and can trigger electroweak symmetry breaking. Thus all the mass scales in this model arise from the hidden sector scale Λ(H), which has quantum mechanical origin. Furthermore, the lightest hadrons in the hidden sector are stable by the flavor conservation of the hidden sector strong interaction, and could be the cold dark matter (CDM). We study collider phenomenology, relic density, and direct detection rates of the CDM of this model.     

The impossibility of heavy neutrino dark matter in the Littlest Higgs Model with T-parity: Constraints from direct search

We consider the Littlest Higgs Model with T-parity (LHT), in the parameter region where a heavy neutrino is the lightest T-odd particle (LTP). Having emphasized that this corresponds to a sizable region in the parameter space of the theory, we show that both the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) and Xenon10 experiments disallow the entire region where the masses of the new particles in LHT can lie within several TeV. Therefore, any observation of the signals of a heavy neutrino LTP is likely to seriously reopen the issue of cold dark matter in the universe.     

Virtual LSPs at e+ e− colliders

Currently popular search strategies for supersymmetric particles may be significantly affected due to relatively light sneutrinos which decay dominantly into invisible channels. In certain cases the second lightest neutralino may also decay invisibly leading to two extra carriers of missing energy (in addition to the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) ) — the virtual LSPs (VLSPs). A tree lavel calculation shows that if the sneutrino mass happens to be in the small but experimentally allowed range (m _≈ν ≈ 45–55 GeV), these particles together with neutralino pairs may contribute significantly to the missing energy in the process e⁺e^? → γ+ E at LEP-2 energies as an enhancement over the Standard Model or the conventional MSSM predictions. It is further shown that a much larger region of the parameter space can be scanned at a high luminosity e⁺e^? collider at 500 GeV like the proposed NLC machine. Moreover, at both LEP-2 and NLC this process may play a complementary role to direct chargino searches, which may fail due to a near mass degeneracy of the chargino and the sneutrino. Formulae for the cross sections taking into account full mixings of the charginos and the neutralinos are derived. The signal remains observable even in the context of more restricted models based onN=1 SUGRA with common scalar and gaugino masses. A preliminary study of the QED radiative corrections due to soft multiple photon emission as well as hard collinear bremsstrahlung indicates that these corrections play a crucial role in estimating the background.     

Stückelino dark matter in anomalous U(1)′ models

We study a possible dark matter candidate in the framework of a minimal anomalous U(1)′ extension of the MSSM. It turns out that in a suitable decoupling limit the Stückelino, the fermionic degree of freedom of the Stückelberg multiplet, is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). We compute the relic density of this particle including coannihilations with the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and with the next to next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NNLSP), which are assumed to be almost degenerate in mass. This assumption is needed in order to satisfy the stringent limits that the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) puts on the relic density. We find that the WMAP constraints can be satisfied by different NLSP and NNLSP configurations as a function of the mass gap with the LSP. These results hold in the parameter space region where the model remains perturbative.     

Explaining the DAMA signal with WIMPless dark matter

WIMPless dark matter provides a framework in which dark matter particles with a wide range of masses naturally have the correct thermal relic density. We show that WIMPless dark matter with mass around 2–10 GeV can explain the annual modulation observed by the DAMA experiment without violating the constraints of other dark matter searches. This explanation implies distinctive and promising signals for other direct detection experiments, GLAST, and the LHC.     

Implications of LHC searches on SUSY particle spectra

We study the implications of LHC searches on SUSY particle spectra using flat scans of the 19-parameter pMSSM phase space. We apply constraints from flavour physics, g _μ −2, dark matter and earlier LEP and Tevatron searches. The sensitivity of the LHC SUSY searches with jets, leptons and missing energy is assessed by reproducing with fast simulation the recent CMS analyses after validation on benchmark points. We present results in terms of the fraction of pMSSM points compatible with all the constraints which are excluded by the LHC searches with 1 fb⁻¹ and 15 fb⁻¹ as a function of the mass of strongly and weakly interacting SUSY particles. We also discuss the suppression of Higgs production cross sections for the MSSM points not excluded and contrast the region of parameter space tested by the LHC data with the constraints from dark matter direct detection experiments.     

Implications of collider experiments for detecting cold dark matter

By investigating the space of parameters of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, it is shown that an observation of at least one supersymmetric particle in high-energy experiments would increase considerably the importance of highly sensitive low-energy experiments aimed at detecting cold-dark-matter particles assumed to be neutralinos, the lightest supersymmetric particles, which are stable. On the other hand, nonobservation of direct signals from dark matter in such experiments can have a pronounced effect on the strategy of high-energy searches for the light charged Higgs boson.     

Split-SUSY dark matter in light of direct detection limits

We examine the present and future XENON limits on the neutralino dark matter in split supersymmetry (split-SUSY). Through a scan over the parameter space under the current constraints from collider experiments and the WMAP measurement of the dark matter relic density, we find that in the allowed parameter space a large part has been excluded by the present XENON100 limits and a further largish part can be covered by the future exposure (6000 kg day). In case of unobservation of dark matter with such an exposure in the future, the lightest neutralino will remain bino-like and its annihilation is mainly through exchanging the SM-like Higgs boson in order to get the required relic density.     

The semi-constrained NMSSM in light of muon g-2,LHC,and dark matter constraints

The semi-constrained NMSSM(scNMSSM) extends the MSSM by a singlet field, and requires unification of the soft SUSY breaking terms in the squark and slepton sectors, while it allows that in the Higgs sector to be different. We try to interpret the muon g-2 in the sc NMSSM, under the constraints of 125 Ge V Higgs data, B physics,searches for low and high mass resonances, searches for SUSY particles at the LHC, dark matter relic density by WMAP/Planck, and direct searches for dark matter by LUX, XENON1T, and PandaX-II. We find that under the above constraints, the sc NMSSM can still(i) satisfy muon g-2 at 1σ level, with a light muon sneutrino and light chargino;(ii) predict a highly-singlet-dominated 95 GeV Higgs, with a diphoton rate as hinted at by CMS data,because of a light higgsino-like chargino and moderate λ;(iii) get low fine tuning from the GUT scale with smallμeff, M_0, M_(1/2), and A_0, with a lighter stop mass which can be as low as about 500 GeV, which can be further checked in future studies with search results from the 13 TeV LHC;(iv) have the lightest neutralino be singlino-dominated or higgsino-dominated, while the bino and wino are heavier because of high gluino bounds at the LHC and universal gaugino conditions at the GUT scale;(v) satisfy all the above constraints, although it is not easy for the lightest neutralino, as the only dark matter candidate, to get enough relic density. Several ways to increase relic density are discussed.     

Electric dipole moment of Dirac fermionic dark matter

The direct limit of electric dipole moment and direct searches for dark matter by electric dipole interaction are investigated with including the electromagnetic nuclear form factor, in case that the dark matter candidate is a Dirac particle. The electric dipole moment of dark matter constrained by direct searches must be lower than 7×¹⁰−22e cm for dark matter mass of 100 GeV to satisfy the current experimental exclusion limits at XENON10 and CDMS II. The CP violation of electric dipole moment and the dark matter discovery by electric dipole interaction in the future are considered.     

Minimal supergravity scalar neutrino dark matter and inverse seesaw neutrino masses

We show that within the inverse seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses, minimal supergravity naturally provides the scalar neutrino as the lightest superparticle. We also demonstrate that such schemes naturally reconcile the small neutrino masses with the correct relic scalar neutrino dark matter abundance and accessible direct detection rates in nuclear recoil experiments. This way, inverse seesaw minimal supergravity offers a common solution to the generation of the neutrino mass and to the origin of dark matter.     

Results of a search for cold flows of dark matter axions

Theoretical arguments predict that the distribution of cold dark matter in spiral galaxies has peaks in velocity space associated with nonthermalized flows of dark matter particles. We searched for the corresponding peaks in the spectrum of microwave photons from axion to photon conversion in a cavity detector for dark matter axions. We found none and place limits on the density of any local flow of axions as a function of the flow velocity dispersion over the axion mass range 1.98 to 2.17 microeV.     

Narrowing the window for millicharged particles by CMB anisotropy

We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum in models with millicharged particles of electric charge q～10^?6?10^?1 in units of electron charge. We find that a large region of the parameter space for the millicharged particles exists where their effect on the CMB spectrum is similar to the effect of baryons. Using WMAP data on the CMB anisotropy and assuming the Big Bang nucleosynthesis value for the baryon abundance, we find that only a small fraction of cold dark matter, Ω_mcp<0.007 (at 95% CL), may consist of millicharged particles with the parameters (charge and mass) from this region. This bound significantly narrows the allowed range of the parameters of millicharged particles. In models without paraphotons, millicharged particles are now excluded as a dark matter candidate. We also speculate that recent observation of 511-keV γ rays from the Galactic bulge may be an indication that a (small) fraction of cold dark matter is comprised of millicharged particles.     

Gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in the Draco and observability at ARGO

The CACTUS experiment recently observed a gamma ray excess above 50 GeV from the direction of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Considering that Draco is dark matter dominated, the gamma rays may be generated through dark matter annihilation in the Draco halo. In the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model we explore the parameter space to account for the gamma ray signals at CACTUS. We find that the neutralino mass is constrained to be approximately in the range between 100 GeV∼400 GeV and a sharp central cuspy of the dark halo profile in Draco is necessary to explain the CACTUS results. We then discuss further constraints on the supersymmetric parameter space by observations at the ground-based ARGO detector. It is found that the parameter space can be strongly constrained by ARGO if no excess from Draco is observed above 100 GeV.