LHC Signatures of a Minimal Supersymmetric Hidden Valley

TL;DR

This paper explores how a minimal supersymmetric hidden valley model could produce distinctive signals at the LHC, including missing energy, lepton jets, and displaced vertices, serving as a benchmark for future collider studies.

Contribution

It introduces a simple supersymmetric hidden valley model with unique collider signatures, expanding the scope of LHC phenomenology for hidden sectors.

Findings

Identifies parameter regions with observable LHC signals

Demonstrates the model can produce multiple collider signatures

Proposes the model as a benchmark for hidden valley searches

Abstract

We investigate the LHC signals of a minimal supersymmetric hidden valley. Our theory consists of the supersymmetric Standard Model along with a light hidden U(1)_x gauge multiplet and a pair of hidden chiral superfields that spontaneously break the new Abelian gauge symmetry near a GeV. The visible and hidden sectors interact exclusively through supersymmetric gauge kinetic mixing. We perform a thorough examination of the hidden decay cascades initiated by the lightest Standard Model superpartner and we study the range of LHC signals they can produce. In particular, we find parameter regions that give rise to missing energy, single and multiple lepton jets, and displaced vertices. Given the simplicity of the underlying theory and the broad range of collider signals it can produce, we propose that this model is a useful benchmark for LHC studies of (supersymmetric) hidden valleys.