LHC Coverage of RPV MSSM with Light Stops

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how current LHC searches detect supersymmetry with R-parity violation involving light stops, identifying gaps and proposing new search strategies to improve coverage.

Contribution

It evaluates the sensitivity of existing LHC searches to RPV MSSM with light stops and suggests new methods to cover untested scenarios.

Findings

Many natural stop masses are excluded by current searches.

Significant gaps remain for UDD operators and tau-involving LQD operators.

Proposed new search strategies to improve detection coverage.

Abstract

We examine the sensitivity of recent LHC searches to signatures of supersymmetry with R-parity violation (RPV). Motivated by naturalness of the Higgs potential, which would favor light third-generation squarks, and the stringent LHC bounds on spectra in which the gluino or first and second generation squarks are light, we focus on scenarios dominated by the pair production of light stops. We consider the various possible direct and cascade decays of the stop that involve the trilinear RPV operators. We find that in many cases, the existing searches exclude stops in the natural mass range and beyond. However, typically there is little or no sensitivity to cases dominated by UDD operators or LQD operators involving taus. We propose several ideas for searches which could address the existing gaps in experimental coverage of these signals.