Search

Muon colliders provide a unique route to deliver high energy collisions that enable discovery searches and precision measurements to extend our understanding of the fundamental laws of physics. The muon collider design aims to deliver physics reach at the highest energies with costs, power consumption and on a time scale that may prove favorable relative to other proposed facilities. In this context, a new international collaboration has formed to further extend the design concepts and performance studies of such a machine. This effort is focused on delivering the elements of a $\sim$10 TeV center of mass (CM) energy design to explore the physics energy frontier. The path to such a machine may pass through lower energy options. Currently a 3 TeV CM stage is considered. Other energy stages could also be explored, e.g. an s-channel Higgs Factory operating at 125 GeV CM. We describe the status of the R&D and design effort towards such a machine and lay out a plan to bring these concepts to maturity as a tool for the high energy physics community., 23 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2201.07895

This document provides a writeup of contributions to the FCC-ee mini-workshop on "Physics behind precision" held at CERN, on 2-3 February 2016., https://indico.cern.ch/event/469561/

We compare the impact of top-quark spin polarization effects in Higgs boson production in association with top-quark pairs and in corresponding backgrounds at the LHC. Because of the spin-zero nature of the Higgs boson, one expects, in the chiral limit for the top quarks, a substantial complementarity in $t\bar t$ spin correlations for a Higgs decaying into fermions/gauge-bosons and $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations for the corresponding irreducible $t\bar t f\bar f/VV$ backgrounds. Although top mass effects in $t\bar t H$ production are in general dominant, and seriously spoil the chiral-limit expectations, one can find observables that capture the $t \bar t$ angular spin correlations and can help in separating the signal from irreducible backgrounds. In particular, we show that, for both $H\to b\bar b$ and $H\to \gamma\gamma$, taking into account $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations in $t\bar t H$ production and irreducible backgrounds could appreciably improve the LHC sensitivity to the $t\bar t H$ channel., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures; implementation of cuts corrected in figures 7-9

These proceedings collect the presentations given at the first three meetings of the INFN "Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC", held at the Frascati National Laboratories in 2006. The first part of these proceedings contains pedagogical introductions to several basic topics of both theoretical and experimental high pT LHC physics. The second part collects more specialised presentations., Comment: 157 pages, 136 figures; contribution by M. Grazzini has been added

Discoveries at the LHC will soon set the physics agenda for future colliders. This report of a CERN Theory Institute includes the summaries of Working Groups that reviewed the physics goals and prospects of LHC running with 10 to 300/fb of integrated luminosity, of the proposed sLHC luminosity upgrade, of the ILC, of CLIC, of the LHeC and of a muon collider. The four Working Groups considered possible scenarios for the first 10/fb of data at the LHC in which (i) a state with properties that are compatible with a Higgs boson is discovered, (ii) no such state is discovered either because the Higgs properties are such that it is difficult to detect or because no Higgs boson exists, (iii) a missing-energy signal beyond the Standard Model is discovered as in some supersymmetric models, and (iv) some other exotic signature of new physics is discovered. In the contexts of these scenarios, the Working Groups reviewed the capabilities of the future colliders to study in more detail whatever new physics may be discovered by the LHC. Their reports provide the particle physics community with some tools for reviewing the scientific priorities for future colliders after the LHC produces its first harvest of new physics from multi-TeV collisions., Comment: 98 pages, CERN Theory Institute Summary Report

These proceedings collect the presentations given at the first three meetings of the INFN "Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC", held at the Frascati National Laboratories in 2006. The first part of these proceedings contains pedagogical introductions to several basic topics of both theoretical and experimental high pT LHC physics. The second part collects more specialised presentations., Comment: 239 pages, 222 figures

Ultra High Energy (UHE) neutrino Astronomy and relic Neutrino masses may play a key role in solving the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) puzzle within the Z-Showering model. Tau air-shower originated by UHE neutrino in matter may probe and amplify this expected UHE neutrino Astronomy. The discover of upcoming and horizontal tau air-showers (UPTAUs, HORTAUs), born by UHE, nu_tau interacting inside mount chains or along Earth Crust crown masses at the Horizons edges, will greatly amplify the single UHE nu_tau track. Observing UPTAUs and HORTAUs along their line of showering, from higher balloons or satellites, at Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) energies above 10^19 eV, may test a calorimeter mass exceeding 150 km^3 (water equivalent). Observing Horizontal Shower by EUSO will probe even larger ring areas generated in huge terrestrial volumes larger than 2360 km^3. These highest GZK energies nu_tau astronomy are well tuned to test the needed abundant nu fluence in GZK Z-Showering model where ZeV (above 10^21 eV) Ultra High Energy neutrinos hit on relic light (near 0.1-3 eV masses) anti-neutrinos, in hot dark matter halos, creating boosted UHE Z bosons. Their nucleon decay in flight may born secondaries observed on Earth atmosphere as UHECR. The wide EUSO acceptance may test easily Z-showering fluxes as well as GZK neutrinos at their minimal granted fluence. The rare (78) observed upcoming terrestrial gamma flashes observed by BATSE satellite during last decade may be also be traces of such UPTAUs and HORTAUs., Comment: 54 pages, 33 figures, 5 Tables; Updated curves and detailed threshold for EUSO

The TESLA Technical Design Report Part III: Physics at an e+e- Linear Collider, Comment: 192 pages, 131 figures. Some figures have reduced quality. Full quality figures can be obtained from http://tesla.desy.de/tdr. Editors - R.-D. Heuer, D.J. Miller, F. Richard, P.M. Zerwas

The results obtained by the Working Group on Supersymmetry at the 1999 Les Houches Workshop on Collider Physics are summarized. Separate chapters treat "general" supersymmetry, R-parity violation, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking., Comment: LaTeX, 110 pages with numerous .ps and .eps files. proc.tex is main tex file

The status of two on-going studies concerning important aspects of the phenomenology of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) models at TeV colliders is reported. The first study deals with the characteristics of the light Higgs boson spectrum allowed by the (minimal and non-minimal) GMSB framework. Today's most accurate GMSB model generation and two-loop Feynman-diagrammatic calculation of m_h have been combined. The Higgs masses are shown in dependence of various model parameters at the messenger and electroweak scales. In the minimal model, an upper limit on m_h of about 124 GeV is found for m_t = 175 GeV. The second study is focused on the measurement of the fundamental SUSY breaking scale sqrt(F) at the LHC in the GMSB scenario where a stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and decays into a gravitino with c*tau_NLSP in the range 0.5 m to 1 km. This implies the measurement of mass and lifetime of long lived sleptons. The identification is performed by determining the time of flight in the ATLAS muon chambers. Accessible range and precision on sqrt(F) achievable with a counting method are assessed., 22 pages, 9 figures (12 eps files). Report of the GMSB SUSY Working Group, Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, 7-18 June 1999. Revised version v3: A few typos corrected

The rarest cosmic rays above the GZK cut'off $(E_{CR} \tilde{>} 10^{19} ��10^{20} eV)$ are probably born at cosmic distances ($\tilde{>}$ tens Mpc) by AGNs (QSRs, BLac, Blazars...). Their puzzling survival over $2.75 K^o$ BBR radio waves opacities (the ``GZK cut off'') might find a natural explanation if the traveling primordial cosmic rays were UHE neutrinos (born by UHE photopion decay) which are transparent to $��$ or $��$ BBR. These UHE$% ��$ might scatter onto those (light and cosmological) relic neutrinos clustered around our galactic halo. The branched chain reactions from a primordial nucleon (via photoproduction of pions and decay to UHE neutrinos) toward the consequent beam dump scattering on galactic relic neutrinos is at least three order of magnitude more efficient than any known neutrino interactions with Earth atmosphere or direct nucleon propagation. Therefore the rarest cosmic rays (as the 320 EeV event) might be originated at far $(\tilde{>} 100 Mpc)$ distances (as Seyfert galaxy MCG 8-11-11). The needed UHE radiation power is in rough agreement with the NCG 8-11-11 observed in MeV gamma energy total output power. The final chain products observed on Earth by the Fly's Eye detector might be mainly neutron and antineutrons as well as, at later stages, protons and antiprotons. These hadronic products are most probably secondaries of $W^+ W^-$ or $ZZ$ pair productions and might be consistent with the last AGASA discoveries of 6 doublet and one triplet event., 5 pages, 1Tab, 1Fig; conference IDM 98,Buxton UK. Affiliation data updated. Replaced Updated Tab n.5

We consider the possibility of studying anomalous contributions to the gamma-gamma-H and Z-gamma-H vertices through the process e-gamma--> e-H at future e-gamma linear colliders, with Sqrt(S)=500-1500 GeV. We make a model independent analysis based on SU(2)xU(1) invariant effective operators of dim=6 added to the standard model lagrangian. We consider a light Higgs boson (mostly decaying in bar(b)-b pairs), and include all the relevant backgrounds. Initial e-beam polarization effects are also analyzed. We find that the process e-gamma--> e-H provides an excellent opportunity to strongly constrain both the CP-even and the CP-odd anomalous contributions to the gamma-gamma-H and Z-gamma-H vertices., LaTeX, 33 pages, 16 eps figures, extended section 5

UHE neutrinos may transfer highest cosmic-rays energies overcoming $2.75K^\circ$ BBR and radio-waves opacities (the GZK cut off) from most distant AGN sources at the age of the Universe. These UHE $��$ might scatter onto those (light and cosmological) relic neutrinos clustered around our galactic halo or nearby neutrino hot dark halo clustered around the AGN blazar and its jets. The branched chain reactions from a primordial nucleon (via photo production of pions and decay to UHE neutrinos) toward the consequent beam dump scattering on galactic relic neutrinos is at least three order of magnitude more efficient than any known neutrino interactions with Earth atmosphere or direct nucleon propagation. Therefore the rarest cosmic rays (as the 320 EeV event) might be originated at far $(\tilde{>} 100 Mpc)$ distances (as Seyfert galaxy MCG 8-11-11); its corresponding UHE radiation power is in agreement with the observed one in MeV gamma energies. The final chain products observed on Earth by the Fly's Eye and AGASA detectors might be mainly neutron and anti-neutrons and delayed, protons and anti-protons at symmetric off-axis angles. These hadronic products are most probably secondaries of $W^+ W^-$ or $ZZ$ pair productions and might be consistent with the last AGASA discoveries of doublets and one triplet event., 4 pages, 1 figure.To be presented at the 26th ICRC Conference 1999,Salt Lake

The bounds on the anomalous contributions to the ggh and zgh vertices that can be obtained via the process eg->eh are discussed through a model independent analysis based on SU(2) X U(1) invariant operators of dim=6. A light Higgs boson with m_H ~ 120 GeV and center-of-mass energies of \sqrt{S}=500 GeV and \sqrt{S}=1500 GeV are assumed. The process eg->eh is shown to provide an excellent way to strongly constraint both the CP-even and CP-odd anomalous contributions in the ggH and ZgH couplings., 8 pages. To appear in the DESY report on "Physics Studies for a Future Linear Collider", DESY 123F

The t->cH decay width has been computed in the standard model with a light Higgs boson. The corresponding branching fraction has been found to be in the range B(t->cH) ~ 10^{-13} - 10^{-14} for M_Z < m_H < 2 M_W. Our results correct the numerical evaluation usually quoted in the literature., 5 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the DESY report on "Physics Studies for a Future Linear Collider", DESY 123F

We present a new calculation of the t->cH decay rate in the standard model. We find that the corresponding branching fraction is B(t->cH) \sim 10^{-13} - 10^{-14} for M_Z < m_H < 2 M_W, that is about 6 orders of magnitude less than previously evaluated, and usually quoted in the literature., 12 pages, 5 figures, uses axodraw.sty. One reference added, to appear on Physics Letter B

We describe the physics potential of $e^+e^-$ linear colliders in this report. These machines are planned to operate in the first phase at a center-of --mass energy of 500 GeV, before being scaled up to about 1 TeV. In the second phase of the operation, a final energy of about 2 TeV is expected. The machines will allow us to perform precision tests of the heavy particles in the Standard Model, the top quark and the electroweak bosons. They are ideal facilities for exploring the properties of Higgs particles, in particular in the intermediate mass range. New vector bosons and novel matter particles in extended gauge theories can be searched for and studied thoroughly. The machines provide unique opportunities for the discovery of particles in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, the spectrum of Higgs particles, the supersymmetric partners of the electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons, and of the matter particles. High precision analyses of their properties and interactions will allow for extrapolations to energy scales close to the Planck scale where gravity becomes significant. In alternative scenarios, like compositeness models, novel matter particles and interactions can be discovered and investigated in the energy range above the existing colliders up to the TeV scale. Whatever scenario is realized in Nature, the discovery potential of $e^+e^-$ linear colliders and the high-precision with which the properties of particles and their interactions can be analysed, define an exciting physics programme complementary to hadron machines., 103 pages, Latex

One-loop production of a Higgs boson in electro-photon collisions at future accelerators is studied via the process (e gamma -> e H), for intermediate Higgs masses. Exact cross sections, including the possibility of longitudinally polarized initial beams, are presented. Confirming previous estimates made in the Weizs��cker-Williams approximation, they are found to be more than two orders of magnitude larger than the cross sections for the crossed process (e e-> gamma H), in the energy range $\sqrt{s}=(0.5-2)$ TeV. We show that, not only (e gamma -> e H) has a similar potential as the (gamma gamma -> H) process for testing the one-loop gamma-gamma-H vertex, but, by requiring a final electron tagged at large angle in (e gamma -> e H), the (H e) production provides an excellent way of testing the Z-gamma-H vertex, too. Kinematical distributions for the (e gamma -> e H -> e bb) process with a tagged final electron are analyzed, and strategies for controlling the main irreducible background are found. Initial-state-radiation effects are checked to be within a few percent., 36 pages, 14 figures. Small differences with the published paper corrected

Higgs production in $e��$ collisions, through the one-loop reaction $e��\to eH$ at large $p_T$, can provide a precise determination of the $Z��H$ vertex., 2 pages (standard LaTeX code); Contribution to the Proceedings of the Int. Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (Jerusalem, 19-26 August 1997)

The one-loop process e,gamma->e,h for intermediate Higgs masses is considered. Exact cross sections for unpolarized and longitudinally polarized beams are computed and found to be more than two orders of magnitude larger than the rates for the crossed process e,e->gamma,h, in the energy range \sqrt{s}=(0.5-2) TeV. We show that, apart from being competitive with the gamma,gamma->H process for testing the one-loop gamma-gamma-H vertex, by requiring a final electron tagged at large angle the channel e,gamma->e,h provides an excellent way of testing the Z-gamma-H vertex., 11 pages, 8 figures. A gzipped complete postscript file is available at ftp://hpteo.roma1.infn.it/pub/preprints/mele/Rome1-1178.ps.gz To appear in the Report DESY 97-123E

We show that the Higgs production in $e��$ collisions, through the one-loop reaction $e��\to eH$ at large transverse momentum, can provide a precise determination of the $Z��H$ vertex. We concentrate on the analysis of signal rates vs background looking for strategies to improve the ratio $S/B$. Possible bounds on anomalous contributions to the $Z��H$ vertex are derived., 5 pages (standard LaTeX code); Talk given at "Beyond the Standard Model V" Conference, April 29 - May 4 1997, Balholm (Norway); to be published in the Proceedings

We present the results obtained by the Standard Model Process group in the CERN Workshop "Physics at LEP2" (1994/95)., Comment: 42 pages, uuencoded gzipped postscript file. The gzipped postscript file is also available through anonymous ftp at ftp://hpteo.roma1.infn.it/pub/preprints/main2.ps.gz To appear in "Physics at LEP2", G. Altarelli, T. Sjostrand and F. Zwirner eds., CERN Report 1996

International audience; Review of prospects for discovery of new physics signals at LEP2. The areas covered include SUSY, exotic fermions, BESS models, leptoquarks, virtual effects and CP violating observables.

Recent LEP results on electroweak precision measurements are reviewed. Line-shape and asymmetries analysis on the Z peak is described. Then, the consistency of the Standard Model predictions with experimental data and consequent limits on the top mass are discussed. Finally, the possibility of extracting information and constrains on new theoretical models from present data is examined., (Invited talk at the XIV Encontro Nacional de Fis. de Campos e Part.s, Caxambu, Brasil, 29 Sept.-3 Oct. 1993), 21 pages, Latex, Roma1 preprint n.984, Dec. 1993

In this paper we report on the current status of studies on the expected performance for a detector designed to operate in a muon collider environment. Beam-induced backgrounds (BIB) represent the main challenge in the design of the detector and the event reconstruction algorithms. The current detector design aims to show that satisfactory performance can be achieved, while further optimizations are expected to significantly improve the overall performance. We present the characterization of the expected beam-induced background, describe the detector design and software used for detailed event simulations taking into account BIB effects. The expected performance of charged-particle reconstruction, jets, electrons, photons and muons is discussed, including an initial study on heavy-flavor jet tagging. A simple method to measure the delivered luminosity is also described. Overall, the proposed design and reconstruction algorithms can successfully reconstruct the high transverse-momentum objects needed to carry out a broad physics program., contribution to Snowmass 2021

A multi-TeV muon collider offers a spectacular opportunity in the direct exploration of the energy frontier. Offering a combination of unprecedented energy collisions in a comparatively clean leptonic environment, a high energy muon collider has the unique potential to provide both precision measurements and the highest energy reach in one machine that cannot be paralleled by any currently available technology. The topic generated a lot of excitement in Snowmass meetings and continues to attract a large number of supporters, including many from the early career community. In light of this very strong interest within the US particle physics community, Snowmass Energy, Theory and Accelerator Frontiers created a cross-frontier Muon Collider Forum in November of 2020. The Forum has been meeting on a monthly basis and organized several topical workshops dedicated to physics, accelerator technology, and detector R&D. Findings of the Forum are summarized in this report.

Report of the Working Group on Higgs Bosons for the Workshop, ``Physics at TeV Colliders'', Les Houches, France, 11-29 June, 2007., Comment: 102 pages, 68 figures

We explore the possibility of probing flavor violations in the charged-lepton sector by means of high-luminosity lepton-photon and electron-muon collisions, by inverting initial and final states in a variety of decay channels presently used to bound such violations. In particular, we analyse the resonant lepton, $\gamma\, \ell \to \ell^{\prime}$, and neutral-meson, $e^- \mu ^+ \to \phi,\eta,\pi^0\!$, scattering channels, whose cross sections are critically dependent on the colliding-beams energy spread, being particularly demanding in the case of leptonic processes. For these processes, we compute upper bounds to the cross-section corresponding to present limits on the inverse decay channel rates. In order to circumvent the beam energy spread limitations we extend the analysis to processes in which a photon accompanies the resonance in the final state, compensating the off-shellness effects by radiative return. These processes might be studied at future facilities with moderate energies, in case lepton-photon and electron-muon collisions with sufficiently high luminosity will be available., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, new references and results included, same as published version

We study the decay of the $Z$ vector boson into a photon and a massless (invisible) dark photon in high-energy collisions. The photon can be used as trigger for the event, while the dark photon is detected indirectly as missing momentum in the event final state. We investigate the possibility of searching for such a dark photon at the LHC, HL-LHC and future lepton colliders, and compare the respective sensitivities. As expected, the best result is found for the lepton colliders running at the $Z$ mass, FCC-ee and CEPC, with a final sensitivity to branching ratios of order $O(10^{-11})$. We also discuss how to use the photon angular distribution of the events in lepton collisions to discriminate between the dark photon and a pseudo-scalar state like the axion., 12 pages, 8 figures, G. Panizzo corresponding author

Measuring the shape of the Higgs boson potential is of paramount importance and will be a challenging task at current as well as future colliders. While the expectations for the measurement of the trilinear Higgs self-coupling are rather promising, an accurate measurement of the quartic self-coupling interaction is presently considered extremely challenging even at a future 100 TeV proton-proton collider. In this work we explore the sensitivity that a muon collider with a center of mass energy in the multi-TeV range, and luminosities of the order of 10^35cm^-2s^-1, as presently under discussion, might provide thanks to a rather large three Higgs-boson production and to a limited background. By performing a first and simple analysis, we find a clear indication that a muon collider could provide a determination of the quartic Higgs self-coupling that is significantly better than what is currently considered attainable at other future colliders., Table 3 and figs.14-18 added. Matches version published on JHEP

The evidence for a new singlet scalar particle from the 750 GeV diphoton excess, and the absence of any other signal of new physics at the LHC so far, suggest the existence of new coloured scalars. To study this possibility, we propose a supersymmetry inspired simplified model, extending the Standard Model with a singlet scalar and with heavy scalar fields carrying both colour and electric charges -- the `squarks'. To allow the latter to decay, and to generate the dark matter of the Universe, we also add a neutral fermion to the particle content. We show that this model provides a two-parameter fit to the observed diphoton excess consistently with cosmology, while the allowed parameter space is bounded by the consistency of the model. In the context of our simplified model this implies the existence of other supersymmetric particles accessible at the LHC, rendering this scenario falsifiable. If this excess persists, it will imply a paradigm shift in assessing supersymmetry breaking and the role of scalars in low scale physics., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, SUSY incarnate

We study the $Z\rightarrow \gamma \bar \gamma$ process in which the $Z$ boson decays into a photon $\gamma$ and a massless dark photon $\bar \gamma$, when the latter couples to standard-model fermions via dipole moments. This is a simple yet nontrivial example of how the Landau-Yang theorem---ruling out the decay of a massive spin-1 particle into two photons---is evaded if the final particles can be distinguished. The striking signature of this process is a resonant monochromatic single photon in the $Z$-boson center of mass together with missing momentum. LEP experimental bounds allow a branching ratio up to about 10$^{-6}$ for such a decay. In a simplified model of the dark sector, the dark-photon dipole moments arise from one-loop exchange of heavy dark fermions and scalar messengers. The corresponding prediction for the rare $Z\to \gamma \bar \gamma$ decay width can be explored with the large samples of $Z$ bosons foreseen at future colliders., Comment: Same as published PRL version, minor comments added, 5 pages, 3 figures

If dark photons are massless, they couple to standard-model particles only via higher dimensional operators, while the kinetic mixing with photons, which motivates most of the current experimental searches, is absent. We consider the effect of possible flavor-changing magnetic-dipole couplings of massless dark photons in kaon physics. In particular, we study the branching ratio for the process $K^+\rightarrow \pi^+\pi^0 \bar \gamma$ with a simplified-model approach, assuming the chiral quark model to evaluate the hadronic matrix element. Possible effects in the $K^0$-$\bar K^0$ mixing are taken into account. We find that branching ratios up to $O(10^{-7})$ are allowed---depending on the dark-sector masses and couplings. Such large branching ratios for $K^+\rightarrow \pi^+\pi^0 \bar \gamma$ could be of interest for experiments dedicated to rare $K^+$ decays like NA62 at CERN, where $\bar \gamma$ can be detected as a massless invisible system., Comment: same as the published PRL version, 5 pages, 3 figures, a few comments and new references added