Charginos Hiding In Plain Sight

TL;DR

This paper suggests that recent WW cross section measurements at the LHC can be better explained by the presence of light electroweak gauginos, which are consistent with existing data and impact Higgs physics.

Contribution

It introduces the possibility that light charginos can account for deviations in WW cross section measurements, providing a new perspective on supersymmetric particles hiding in plain sight.

Findings

Electroweak gauginos improve fit to WW data

Light charginos are consistent with current experimental constraints

Implications for Higgs phenomenology are significant

Abstract

Recent 7 TeV 5/fb measurements by ATLAS and CMS have measured both overall and differential WW cross sections that differ from NLO SM predictions. While these measurements aren't statistically significant enough to rule out the SM, we demonstrate that the data from both experiments can be better fit with the inclusion of electroweak gauginos with masses of O(100) GeV. We show that these new states are consistent with other experimental searches/measurements and can have ramifications for Higgs phenomenology. Additionally, we show how the first measurements of the WW cross section at 8 TeV by CMS strengthen our conclusions.