F-theory and the LHC: Stau Search

TL;DR

This paper investigates the detection prospects of quasi-stable staus predicted by F-theory GUT models at the LHC, focusing on their unique signatures and how to distinguish these models from similar scenarios.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the LHC signatures of quasi-stable staus in F-theory GUTs and explores methods to differentiate these models from gauge mediation.

Findings

Heavy charged particles can be detected passing through the detector.

Expected event rates depend on minimal F-theory GUT parameters.

Strategies for stopping and identifying staus in the detector are discussed.

Abstract

F-theory GUT models favor a relatively narrow range of soft supersymmetry breaking parameters in the MSSM Lagrangian. This leads to the specific predictions that a 10-100 MeV mass gravitino is the LSP, and the NLSP is quasi-stable, with a lifetime between a second to an hour. In a wide range of parameter space, the NLSP turns out to be a stau, though a bino-like lightest neutralino is also possible. Focusing on F-theory GUTs with a stau NLSP, we study the discovery potential at the LHC for such scenarios. Models with a quasi-stable stau predict a striking signature of a heavy charged particle passing through the detector. As a function of the parameters of minimal F-theory GUTs, we study how many of such events to expect, and additional signatures correlated with the presence of quasi-stable staus. We also study the prospects for staus to become stopped in or near the detector, as well as potential ways to distinguish such models from minimal gauge mediation models with similar spectra.