[Paper Review] Higgs- and Slepton-Strahlung at Hadron Colliders

Francesca Borzumati, Jean-Loı̈c Kneur+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|May 21, 1999

Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies5 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes that charged Higgs bosons and sleptons can be produced via strahlung off third-generation quarks at hadron colliders, offering a viable discovery channel at the Tevatron and LHC. It demonstrates that TeV-scale charged Higgs bosons and sleptons with small R-parity violating couplings are accessible through this mechanism, providing a novel probe for models of neutrino mass.

ABSTRACT

It is shown that the radiation of a charged Higgs boson off a third-generation quark (charged-Higgs-strahlung) provides an important channel for the discovery of the charged Higgs at hadron colliders. Equivalently, in supersymmetric models with explicit lepton-number (R-parity) violation, sleptons may also be produced in association with quarks (slepton-strahlung). Higgs- and slepton-strahlung production cross sections are given for both the Tevatron and the LHC. The LHC cross sections imply that heavy ${\\cal{O}}$(TeV) charged Higgs bosons can be produced via charged-Higgs-strahlung and that strahlung production of charged sleptons is possible even for small R-parity violating couplings. The possible discovery of sleptons through this channel offers a surprising handle on models of neutrino masses.

Motivation & Objective

• To identify viable production channels for charged Higgs bosons and sleptons at hadron colliders.
• To assess the feasibility of detecting heavy charged Higgs bosons (O(TeV)) via strahlung at the LHC.
• To explore the implications of R-parity violating couplings for slepton production and their connection to neutrino mass generation.
• To provide quantitative cross-section estimates for Higgs- and slepton-strahlung at both the Tevatron and LHC.

Proposed method

• Analyzing quark-antiquark annihilation processes involving third-generation quarks to compute cross sections for charged Higgs and slepton production.
• Applying quantum field theory techniques to calculate production amplitudes for Higgs- and slepton-strahlung in the context of R-parity violating supersymmetry.
• Using effective field theory methods to model R-parity violating couplings and their impact on slepton production rates.
• Evaluating cross sections at parton-level for the Tevatron and LHC, considering center-of-mass energy and collider-specific kinematics.
• Comparing theoretical predictions with experimental sensitivity to assess discovery potential.
• Incorporating constraints from neutrino mass generation to link slepton production to viable models of lepton number violation.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can charged Higgs bosons be produced via strahlung off third-generation quarks at hadron colliders, and what is the expected cross section at the LHC?
• RQ2 What is the reach for detecting TeV-scale charged Higgs bosons through this production mode at the LHC?
• RQ3 How small can R-parity violating couplings be while still allowing detectable slepton production via strahlung?
• RQ4 Can slepton-strahlung serve as a discovery channel for sleptons even with small R-parity violating couplings?
• RQ5 What is the connection between slepton-strahlung production and models of neutrino mass generation?

Key findings

• The LHC cross sections for charged-Higgs-strahlung production are large enough to allow discovery of heavy charged Higgs bosons with masses on the order of 1 TeV.
• Slepton-strahlung production is viable even for small R-parity violating couplings, making it a sensitive probe of such interactions.
• The study identifies a new discovery channel for sleptons at hadron colliders, particularly relevant for models with explicit lepton-number violation.
• The cross sections for both Higgs- and slepton-strahlung are significant at the LHC, indicating strong discovery potential.
• The mechanism provides a surprising and direct link between slepton production and models of neutrino mass generation through R-parity violation.
• The results suggest that strahlung processes offer a complementary and powerful approach to probing new physics beyond the Standard Model at hadron colliders.