Search

The classification of events involving jets as signal-like or background-like can depend strongly on the jet algorithm used and its parameters. This is partly due to the fact that standard jet algorithms yield a single partition of the particles in an event into jets, even if no particular choice stands out from the others. As an alternative, we propose that one should consider multiple interpretations of each event, generalizing the Qjets procedure to event-level analysis. With multiple interpretations, an event is no longer restricted to either satisfy cuts or not satisfy them - it can be assigned a weight between 0 and 1 based on how well it satisfies the cuts. These cut-weights can then be used to improve the discrimination power of an analysis or reduce the uncertainty on mass or cross-section measurements. For example, using this approach on a Higgs plus Z boson sample, with h->bb we find an 28% improvement in significance can be realized at the 8 TeV LHC. Through a number of other examples, we show various ways in which having multiple interpretations can be useful on the event level.

Measurements of the top quark forward-backward asymmetry performed at the Tevatron suggest that new-physics may be playing a role in t-tbar production. To better understand the source of the asymmetry, recent proposals have called for a measurement of the bottom and charm forward-backward asymmetries at the Tevatron, using jets with embedded muons. Here we propose a corresponding measurement of the bottom quark forward-central asymmetry designed to look for similar effects in the b-sector at ATLAS and CMS. We construct a set of cuts designed to enhance sensitivity to this asymmetry, and test our analysis on a toy axigluon model representative of those used to explain the top asymmetry. We find that if the relevant new-physics couplings to the bottom quark are similar to those of the top, then the effects should be visible at the two sigma level in less than 10 fb-1 of 7 TeV LHC data. Such a measurement would be of general importance, and would provide valuable model-building input, serving to restrict the set of models put forward to explain the Tevatron t-tbar anomaly. However, a relatively low trigger threshold on non-isolated muons inside hard jets must be maintained to allow for this measurement.

A pair of new colored particles produced near the threshold can form a bound state and then annihilate into standard model particles. In this paper we show how the bound state signals can distinguish between two scenarios that have similar particle content and interactions but different spins, such as the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and universal extra dimensions (UED). We find, for example, that bound states of KK gluons (KK gluonia) have an order of magnitude larger cross sections than gluinonia and they may be detectable as resonances in the $b\bar b$, $t\bar t$ or $\gamma\gamma$ channels if the KK gluon is very light and sufficiently long-lived. KK gluonia can be distinguished from gluinonia by their much larger cross sections and distinct angular distributions. Similarly, KK quarkonia can be distinguished from squarkonia by the size of their diphoton cross section and by their dilepton signals. Since many of our results are largely determined by gauge interactions, they will be useful for many other new physics scenarios as well., Comment: 42 pages, 20 figures; v2: added minor clarifications and references; published version

R-hadrons are only one of many possible stable colored states that the LHC might produce. All such particles would provide a spectacular, if somewhat unusual, signal at ATLAS and CMS. Produced in large numbers and leaving a characteristic signature throughout all layers of the detector, including the muon chamber, they could be straightforward to discover even with low luminosity. Though such long lived colored particles (LLCPs) can be realized in many extensions of the Standard Model, most analyses of their phenomenology have focused only on R-hadrons. In order to distinguish among the possibilities, fundamental quantum numbers of the new states must be measured. In this paper, we demonstrate how to identify the $SU(3)_C$ charge and spin of such new particles at the LHC., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

In this work the LHC inverse problem is quantified in the Bayesian context by clarifying the relation between the mapping from the theory parameter space to experimental signature space and the inverse map. We demonstrate that, after complementing the LHC data by existing astrophysical, collider, and low energy measurements, a simple likelihood analysis is able to significantly reduce the inverse problem. The presented approach offers a robust, economic, and extendable way to extract theoretical parameters from the LHC, and other experimental, data., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure - minor change to abstract in v2