The CKM matrix is not generic. The Wolfenstein parametrization encodes structure by having one small parameter, λ ≈ 0.22. We pose the question: is there substructure in the CKM matrix that goes beyond the single small parameter of the Wolfenstein parameterization? We find two relations that are approximately satisfied: |Vtd|2 = |Vcb|3 and |Vub|2|Vus| = |Vcb|4. We discuss the...
We present kinematically forbidden dark matter annihilations into Standard Model leptons. This mechanism precisely selects the dark matter mass that gives the observed relic abundance. This is qualitatively different from existing models of thermal dark matter, where fixing the relic density typically leaves open orders of magnitude of viable dark matter masses. Forbidden...
Abstract Precision measurements of high energy top quarks at the LHC constitute a powerful probe of new physics. We study the effect of four fermion operators involving two tops and two light quarks on the high energy tail of the \( t\overline{t} \) invariant mass distribution. We use existing measurements at a center of mass energy of 13 TeV, and state of the art calculations of...
Abstract How light can a fermion be if it has unit electric charge? We revisit the lore that LEP robustly excludes charged fermions lighter than about 100 GeV. We review LEP chargino searches, and find them to exclude charged fermions lighter than 90 GeV, assuming a higgsino-like cross section. However, if the charged fermion couples to a new scalar, destructive interference...
Abstract Dark matter may be a thermal relic whose abundance is set by mutual annihilations among multiple species. Traditionally, this coannihilation scenario has been applied to weak scale dark matter that is highly degenerate with other states. We show that coannihilation among states with split masses points to dark matter that is exponentially lighter than the weak scale...
New physics, that is too heavy to be produced directly, can leave measurable imprints on the tails of kinematic distributions at the LHC. We use energetic QCD processes to perform novel measurements of the Standard Model (SM) Effective Field Theory. We show that the dijet invariant mass spectrum, and the inclusive jet transverse momentum spectrum, are sensitive to a dimension 6...
Abstract A hidden sector with a mass gap undergoes an epoch of cannibalism if number changing interactions are active when the temperature drops below the mass of the lightest hidden particle. During cannibalism, the hidden sector temperature decreases only logarithmically with the scale factor. We consider the possibility that dark matter resides in a hidden sector that...
It is possible that the electroweak scale is low due to the fine-tuning of microscopic parameters, which can result from selection effects. The experimental discovery of new light fundamental scalars other than the Standard Model Higgs boson would seem to disfavor this possibility, since generically such states imply parametrically worse fine-tuning with no compelling connection...
Abstract We present a simple model of weak-scale thermal dark matter that gives rise to X-ray lines. Dark matter consists of two nearly degenerate states near the weak scale, which are populated thermally in the early universe via co-annihilation with slightly heavier states that are charged under the Standard Model. The X-ray line arises from the decay of the heavier dark matter...
If some superpartners were in thermal equilibrium in the early universe, and if the lightest superpartner is a cosmologically stable gravitino, then there is a powerful upper bound on the scale of the superpartner masses. Typically the bound is below tens of TeV, often much lower, and has similar parametrics to the WIMP miracle.
Abstract The measured values of the weak scale, v, and the first generation masses, m u,d,e , are simultaneously explained in the multiverse, with all these parameters scanning independently. At the same time, several remarkable coincidences are understood. Small variations in these parameters away from their measured values lead to the instability of hydrogen, the instability of...
The energy dependence of the electroweak gauge couplings has not been measured above the weak scale. We propose that percent-level measurements of the energy dependence of α 1,2 can be performed now at the LHC and at future higher energy hadron colliders. These measurements can be used to set limits on new particles with electroweak quantum numbers without relying on any...
The first 1 fb−1 of LHC searches have set impressive limits on new colored particles decaying to missing energy. We address the implication of these searches for naturalness in supersymmetry (SUSY). General bottom-up considerations of natural electroweak symmetry breaking show that higgsinos, stops, and the gluino should not be too far above the weak scale. The rest of the...
We consider some of the recent proposals in which weak-scale dark matter is accompanied by a GeV scale dark sector that could produce spectacular lepton-rich events at the LHC. Since much of the collider phenomenology is only weakly model dependent it is possible to arrive at generic predictions for the discovery potential of future experimental searches. We concentrate on the...
