Heavy octets and Tevatron signals with three or four b jets

TL;DR

This paper explores hypothetical scalar color-octet particles produced at hadron colliders, analyzing their signatures in three or four b-jet final states, and suggests they could explain certain anomalies observed by the CDF experiment.

Contribution

It introduces a model with scalar octets from a broken SU(3)×SU(3) gauge symmetry, detailing their production mechanisms and potential to explain experimental data.

Findings

Scalar octet mass range 140-150 GeV fits CDF data

Pair production cross section around 40 pb at Tevatron

Dijet resonance production cross section about 0.15 pb

Abstract

Hypothetical color-octet particles of spin 0, pair-produced at hadron colliders through their QCD coupling, may lead to final states involving three or four b jets. We analyze kinematic distributions of the 3b final state that differentiate the scalar octets from supersymmetric Higgs bosons. Studying the scalar sector that breaks an SU(3) \times SU(3) gauge symmetry down to the QCD gauge group, we find that the scalar octet is resonantly produced in pairs via a spin-1 octet (coloron). A scalar octet of mass in the 140 - 150 GeV range can explain the nonstandard shape of the b-jet transverse energy distributions reported by the CDF Collaboration, especially when the coloron mass is slightly above twice the scalar mass. The dominant decay mode of the scalar octet is into a pair of gluons, so that the production of a pair of dijet resonances is large in this model, of about 40 pb at the Tevatron. Even when a W boson is radiated from the initial state, the inclusive cross section for producing a dijet resonance near the scalar octet mass remains sizable, around 0.15 pb.