Probing Minimal Flavor Violation at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores how LHC measurements of new particles can test the principles of minimal flavor violation (MFV), potentially excluding or confirming MFV's applicability to new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Contribution

It demonstrates how LHC data on extra down-type quarks can be used to probe and potentially exclude or validate the MFV hypothesis in new physics scenarios.

Findings

LHC measurements can exclude MFV if deviations are observed.

Masses and decay rates can distinguish MFV from other flavor structures.

Results are applicable to broader models beyond the specific extension studied.

Abstract

If the LHC experiments discover new particles that couple to the Standard Model fermions, then measurements by ATLAS and CMS can contribute to our understanding of the flavor puzzles. We demonstrate this statement by investigating a scenario where extra SU(2)-singlet down-type quarks are within the LHC reach. By measuring masses, production cross sections and relative decay rates, minimal flavor violation (MFV) can in principle be excluded. Conversely, these measurements can probe the way in which MFV applies to the new degrees of freedom. Many of our conclusions are valid in a much more general context than this specific extension of the Standard Model.