Engineering topics

Bernreuther, Elias

Publications and source records attributed to Bernreuther, Elias.

3 records

DOE OSTI2024

Extracting halo independent information from dark matter electron scattering data

Direct detection experiments and the interpretation of their results are sensitive to the velocity structure of the dark matter in our galactic halo. Here we extend the formalism that deals with such astrophysics-driven uncertainties, originally introduced in the context of dark-matter-nuclear scattering, to include dark-matter-electron scattering interactions. Using mock data, we demonstrate that the ability to determine the correct dark matter mass and velocity distribution is depleted for recoil spectra which only populate a few low-lying bins, such as models involving a light mediator. We also demonstrate how this formalism allows one to test the compatibility of existing experimental data sets (e.g. SENSEI and EDELWEISS), as well as make predictions for possible future experiments (e.g. GaAs-based detectors).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Light long-lived particles at colliders

Searches for long-lived particles (LLPs) are a rapidly expanding frontier at the LHC and other collider experiments. Still, many gaps remain in the current search program, in particular for LLPs with masses at the GeV or sub-GeV scale and with very large decay lengths. In this talk, I will illustrate two different approaches to filling this gap by discussing two models of light LLPs and their associated collider signals. First, I will show that the dominant decay mode of vectorlike leptons can be a very long-lived pseudoscalar and a tau lepton and argue that the muon chambers of CMS or ATLAS are ideal places to search for this final state. Second, I will illustrate the excellent sensitivity of Belle II to light LLPs with meter-scale decay lengths using the example of displaced vertex signals from strongly interacting dark sectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Vectorlike leptons and long-lived bosons at the LHC

We study a renormalizable theory that includes a heavy weak-singlet vectorlike lepton, $\tau$', that decays into a pseudoscalar boson and a tau lepton. We show that this can be the dominant decay mode of $\tau$' provided the pseudoscalar couplings deviate from the case of a Nambu-Goldstone boson. For a range of parameters, the pseudoscalar is long-lived, and mainly decays into a photon pair at one loop, or into a tau pair at tree level. Electroweak production of $\tau$' + $\tau$' - leads to a rich phenomenology at colliders, including signals with many taus or photons. We analyze in detail the LHC signal involving two prompt taus and two displaced photon pairs. Particularly interesting is the case where the pseudoscalar has a decay length of a few meters and thus would typically deposit energy in the muon chambers of the CMS or ATLAS detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗