Cross Section Ratios between different CM energies at the LHC: opportunities for precision measurements and BSM sensitivity

TL;DR

This paper explores how cross section ratios at different LHC energies can enable high-precision measurements and enhance sensitivity to new physics beyond the Standard Model, leveraging correlated theoretical uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of using cross section ratios at varying energies for precision tests and BSM sensitivity, highlighting their potential advantages.

Findings

Ratios of cross sections at different energies have highly correlated uncertainties.

Such ratios can improve the precision of measurements at the LHC.

They offer new avenues for detecting Beyond the Standard Model physics.

Abstract

The staged increase of the LHC beam energy provides a new class of interesting observables, namely ratios and double ratios of cross sections of various hard processes. The large degree of correlation of theoretical systematics in the cross section calculations at different energies leads to highly precise predictions for such ratios. We present in this letter few examples of such ratios, and discuss their possible implications, both in terms of opportunities for precision measurements and in terms of sensitivity to Beyond the Standard Model dynamics.