O bóson de Higgs no modelo padrão das interações eletrofracas: aspectos fenomenológicos do setor escalar e resultados experimentais

Pós-graduação em Física - FEG

Suche nach einem leichten Higgs-Boson im Kanal WH ev e bb in pp-Kollisionen bei s=1.96 TeV am DO-Detektor des Tevatron

Eine wichtige Komponente des Standardmodells der Teilchenphysik bildet der Higgs-Mechanismus, der benötigt wird um den vom Standardmodell beschriebenen Teilchen Masse zu verleihen. Dieser Mechanismus beinhaltet jedoch ein weiteres schweres Elementarteilchen das bislang noch nich beobachtet werden konnte. Die Suche nach diesem Teilchen ist eines Hauptziele der derzeitigen Forschung an Teilchenbeschleunigern. Diese Arbeit untersucht die vom D0-Detektor am Tevatron des Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) aufgezeichneten Daten von ppbar-Kollisionen bei einer Schwerpunktsenergie von sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV, um im Kanal WH -> enu bb nach einem leichten Higgs-Boson zu suchen. Darüber hinaus wird der Produktionswirkungsquerschnitt der Wbb-Produktion ermittelt. Für die Analyse stand eine integrierte Luminosität von L=255pb^{-1} zur Verfügung. Zur Selektion dieser Prozesse, werden Ereignisse ausgewählt, die Elektronen und fehlenden Transversalimpuls enthalten, sowie mindestens zwei Jets, die sich als b-Jets identifizieren lassen. Um eine effiziente Selektion zu erhalten, wurden Schnitte auf verschiedene Kenngrößen entwickelt, getestet und optimiert. Aus den selektierten Ereignissen wird der Wbb-Wirkungsquerschnitt ermittelt, der für Ereignisse angegeben wird, in denen die b-Quarks p_T>8 GeV und |eta|<3 erfüllen. Der unter Berücksichtigung des Verzweigungsverhältnisses BR(W->enu)=0.108 errechnete Wert ist sigma(Wbb)=21.8 pb (+15.5; -20.0 pb(sys+stat)). Wegen der geringen Signifikanz der Messung von etwa 1.2sigma wurden die Ereigniszahlen auch zur Berechnung einer oberen Grenze auf den Wirkungsquerschnitt verwendet, die sich bei einem Konfidenzniveau von 95% zu sigma^95(Wbb)=60.9pb ergibt. Ebenso wurden Grenzen auf den WH-Produktionswirkungsquerschnitt ermittelt. Dafür wurde die statistische Methode von Feldman und Cousins angewandt, nachdem sie nach den Vorschlägen von Conrad et al. erweitert worden war, um systematische Unsicherheiten zu berücksichtigen. Für ein Standardmodell Higgs-Boson der Masse 115 GeV kann eine obere Grenze auf den Produktionswirkungsquerschnitt von sigma^{95} (WH)=12.2pb angegeben werden. Für höhere Massen bis 135 GeV werden ähnliche Grenzen ermittelt.

Vector Theory of Spontaneous Lorentz Violation

Classical electromagnetism predicts two massless propagating modes, which are known as the two polarizations of the photon. On the other hand, if the Lorentz symmetry of classical electromagnetism is spontaneously broken, the new theory will still have two massless Nambu-Goldstone modes resembling the photon. If the Lorentz symmetry is broken by a bumblebee potential that allows for excitations out of the minimum, then massive modes arise. Furthermore, in curved spacetime, such massive modes will be created through a process other than the usual Higgs mechanism because of the dependence of the bumblebee potential on both the vector field and the metric tensor. Also, it is found that these massive modes do not propagate due to the extra constraints.

Alguns aspectos sobre a geração dinâmica de massa em modelos de Technicolor

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ein, zwei Punkte zu Nichtkommutativer Geometrie und Quantenfeldtheorie auf diskreten Räumen

Über viele Jahre hinweg wurden wieder und wieder Argumente angeführt, die diskreten Räumen gegenüber kontinuierlichen Räumen eine fundamentalere Rolle zusprechen. Unser Zugangzur diskreten Welt wird durch neuere Überlegungen der Nichtkommutativen Geometrie (NKG) bestimmt. Seit ca. 15Jahren gibt es Anstrengungen und auch Fortschritte, Physikmit Hilfe von Nichtkommutativer Geometrie besser zuverstehen. Nur eine von vielen Möglichkeiten ist dieReformulierung des Standardmodells derElementarteilchenphysik. Unter anderem gelingt es, auch denHiggs-Mechanismus geometrisch zu beschreiben. Das Higgs-Feld wird in der NKG in Form eines Zusammenhangs auf einer zweielementigen Menge beschrieben. In der Arbeit werden verschiedene Ziele erreicht:Quantisierung einer nulldimensionalen ,,Raum-Zeit'', konsistente Diskretisierungf'ur Modelle im nichtkommutativen Rahmen.Yang-Mills-Theorien auf einem Punkt mit deformiertemHiggs-Potenzial. Erweiterung auf eine ,,echte''Zwei-Punkte-Raum-Zeit, Abzählen von Feynman-Graphen in einer nulldimensionalen Theorie, Feynman-Regeln. Eine besondere Rolle werden Termini, die in derQuantenfeldtheorie ihren Ursprung haben, gewidmet. In diesemRahmen werden Begriffe frei von Komplikationen diskutiert,die durch etwaige Divergenzen oder Schwierigkeitentechnischer Natur verursacht werden könnten.Eichfixierungen, Geistbeiträge, Slavnov-Taylor-Identität undRenormierung. Iteratives Lösungsverfahren derDyson-Schwinger-Gleichung mit Computeralgebra-Unterstützung,die Renormierungsprozedur berücksichtigt.

Produção de charginos no ilc

O principal objetivo desta dissertação é a produção de charginos (partículas supersimétricascarregadas) leves no futuro acelerador internacional linear de e +e− (ILC) para diferentescenários de quebra de supersimetria. Charginos são partículas constituídas pela mistura docampo Wino carregado com o Higgsino carregado. A principal motivação para se estudar teorias supersimétricas deve-se ao grande número de problemas do Modelo Padrão (SM) que esta consegue solucionar, entre eles: massa dos neutrinos, matéria escura fria e o ajuste-fine (finetuning). Além disso, estudamos os princípios fundamentais que norteam a física de partículas,isto é, o princípio de gauge e o mecanismo de Higgs.

Identification of Hadronically Decaying Tau Leptons in Searches for Heavy MSSM Higgs Bosons with the CMS Detector at the CERN LHC

This thesis describes methods for the reliable identification of hadronically decaying tau leptons in the search for heavy Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model of particle physics (MSSM). The identification of the hadronic tau lepton decays, i.e. tau-jets, is applied to the gg->bbH, H->tautau and gg->tbH+, H+->taunu processes to be searched for in the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Of all the event selections applied in these final states, the tau-jet identification is the single most important event selection criterion to separate the tiny Higgs boson signal from a large number of background events. The tau-jet identification is studied with methods based on a signature of a low charged track multiplicity, the containment of the decay products within a narrow cone, an isolated electromagnetic energy deposition, a non-zero tau lepton flight path, the absence of electrons, muons, and neutral hadrons in the decay signature, and a relatively small tau lepton mass compared to the mass of most hadrons. Furthermore, in the H+->taunu channel, helicity correlations are exploited to separate the signal tau jets from those originating from the W->taunu decays. Since many of these identification methods rely on the reconstruction of charged particle tracks, the systematic uncertainties resulting from the mechanical tolerances of the tracking sensor positions are estimated with care. The tau-jet identification and other standard selection methods are applied to the search for the heavy neutral and charged Higgs bosons in the H->tautau and H+->taunu decay channels. For the H+->taunu channel, the tau-jet identification is redone and optimized with a recent and more detailed event simulation than previously in the CMS experiment. Both decay channels are found to be very promising for the discovery of the heavy MSSM Higgs bosons. The Higgs boson(s), whose existence has not yet been experimentally verified, are a part of the standard model and its most popular extensions. They are a manifestation of a mechanism which breaks the electroweak symmetry and generates masses for particles. Since the H->tautau and H+->taunu decay channels are important for the discovery of the Higgs bosons in a large region of the permitted parameter space, the analysis described in this thesis serves as a probe for finding out properties of the microcosm of particles and their interactions in the energy scales beyond the standard model of particle physics.

A dynamical mechanism to explain the top-bottom quark mass hierarchy

We discuss the mass splitting between the the top and bottom quarks in a technicolor scenario. The model proposed here contains a left-right electroweak gauge group. An extended technicolor group and mirror fermions are introduced. The top-bottom quark mass splitting turns out to be intimately connected to the breaking of the left-right gauge symmetry. Weak isospin violation occurs within the experimental limits.

Probing intermediate mass Higgs interactions at the CERN large hadron collider

We analyze the potentiality of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to probe the Higgs boson couplings to the electroweak gauge bosons. We parametrize the possible deviations of these couplings due to new physics in a model independent way, using the most general dimension-six effective lagrangian where the SU(2)(L) x U(1)(Y) is realized linearly. For intermediate Higgs masses, the decay channel into two photons is the most important one for Higgs searches at the LHC, We study the effects of these new interactions on the Higgs production mechanism and its subsequent decay into two photons. We show that the LHC will be sensitive to new physics scales beyond the present limits extracted from the LEP and Tevatron physics. (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V. B,V, All rights reserved.

IDENTIFYING THE HIGGS-BOSON IN ELECTRON-PHOTON COLLISIONS

We analyze the production and detection of the Higgs boson in the next generation of linear e+e-colliders operating in the egamma mode. In particular, we study the production mechanism e+gamma --> egammagamma --> e + H, where one photon is generated via the laser backscattering mechanism, while the other is radiated via the usual bremsstrahlung process. We show that this is the most important mechanism for Higgs boson production in a 500 GeV egamma collider for M(H) greater than or similar to 140 GeV. We also study the signals and backgrounds for detection of the Higgs boson in the different decay channels bbBAR, W+W-, and ZZ, and suggest kinematical cuts to improve the signature of an intermediate-mass Higgs boson.

NEUTRAL CURRENTS AND GLASHOW-ILIOPOULOS-MAIANI MECHANISM IN SU(3)L-CIRCLE-TIMES-U(1)N MODELS FOR ELECTROWEAK INTERACTIONS

We study the Glashow-Iliopoulos-Maiani mechanism for flavor-changing neutral-current suppression in both the gauge and Higgs sectors, for models with SU(3)L X U(1)N gauge symmetry. The models differ from one another only with respect to the representation content. The main features of these models are that in order to cancel the triangle anomalies the number of families must be divisible by three (the number of colors) and that the lepton number is violated by some lepton-gauge bosons and lepton-scalar interactions.

Soluções do tipo vórtice em um modelo de Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Higgs com campos de Gauge distintos

Pós-graduação em Física - FEG

Soluções tipo vórtex em teorias de gauge Chern-Simons-Maxwell-Higgs

Pós-graduação em Física - IFT

Search for Higgs Boson Production Beyond the Standard Model Using the Razor Kinematic Variables in pp Collisions at √s=8 TeV and Optimization of Higgs Boson Identification Using a Quantum Annealer

In the first part of this thesis we search for beyond the Standard Model physics through the search for anomalous production of the Higgs boson using the razor kinematic variables. We search for anomalous Higgs boson production using proton-proton collisions at center of mass energy √s=8 TeV collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 fb^-1.

In the second part we present a novel method for using a quantum annealer to train a classifier to recognize events containing a Higgs boson decaying to two photons. We train that classifier using simulated proton-proton collisions at √s=8 TeV producing either a Standard Model Higgs boson decaying to two photons or a non-resonant Standard Model process that produces a two photon final state.

The production mechanisms of the Higgs boson are precisely predicted by the Standard Model based on its association with the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. We measure the yield of Higgs bosons decaying to two photons in kinematic regions predicted to have very little contribution from a Standard Model Higgs boson and search for an excess of events, which would be evidence of either non-standard production or non-standard properties of the Higgs boson. We divide the events into disjoint categories based on kinematic properties and the presence of additional b-quarks produced in the collisions. In each of these disjoint categories, we use the razor kinematic variables to characterize events with topological configurations incompatible with typical configurations found from standard model production of the Higgs boson.

We observe an excess of events with di-photon invariant mass compatible with the Higgs boson mass and localized in a small region of the razor plane. We observe 5 events with a predicted background of 0.54 ± 0.28, which observation has a p-value of 10^-3 and a local significance of 3.35σ. This background prediction comes from 0.48 predicted non-resonant background events and 0.07 predicted SM higgs boson events. We proceed to investigate the properties of this excess, finding that it provides a very compelling peak in the di-photon invariant mass distribution and is physically separated in the razor plane from predicted background. Using another method of measuring the background and significance of the excess, we find a 2.5σ deviation from the Standard Model hypothesis over a broader range of the razor plane.

In the second part of the thesis we transform the problem of training a classifier to distinguish events with a Higgs boson decaying to two photons from events with other sources of photon pairs into the Hamiltonian of a spin system, the ground state of which is the best classifier. We then use a quantum annealer to find the ground state of this Hamiltonian and train the classifier. We find that we are able to do this successfully in less than 400 annealing runs for a problem of median difficulty at the largest problem size considered. The networks trained in this manner exhibit good classification performance, competitive with the more complicated machine learning techniques, and are highly resistant to overtraining. We also find that the nature of the training gives access to additional solutions that can be used to improve the classification performance by up to 1.2% in some regions.