Transverse mass and invariant mass observables for measuring the mass of a semi-invisibly decaying heavy particle

TL;DR

This paper derives formulas for invariant and transverse mass end-points to measure the mass of heavy particles decaying semi-invisibly, applicable to different decay chain scenarios and tested with SUSY Higgs decays at the LHC.

Contribution

It provides new analytical formulas for mass measurements in semi-invisible decay processes, including both identical and different decay chains.

Findings

Formulas accurately predict end-point positions in mass distributions.

Validated formulas with a SUSY Higgs decay case study.

Applicable to various decay chain configurations.

Abstract

Formulae are derived for the positions of end-points in the invariant mass and transverse mass distributions obtained from the products of heavy states decaying to pairs of semi-invisibly decaying lighter states. Formulae are derived both for the special case where the two decay chains are identical and the more general case where they are different. The formulae are tested with a simple case study of heavy SUSY higgs particles decaying to gauginos at the LHC.