Can R-parity violation hide vanilla supersymmetry at the LHC?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how R-parity violation in supersymmetry models affects collider signatures, showing that certain superpartner masses are already excluded and that R-parity violation complicates detection strategies at the LHC.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of collider constraints on R-parity violating supersymmetry using same-sign dilepton and multijet signatures, highlighting the impact on search strategies.

Findings

Gluino and squark masses below 1 TeV are excluded in R-parity violating MSSM.

R-parity violation alters key observables used to distinguish SUSY signals from backgrounds.

Certain R-parity violating scenarios make supersymmetry harder to detect at the LHC.

Abstract

Current experimental constraints on a large parameter space in supersymmetric models rely on the large missing energy signature. This is usually provided by the lightest neutralino which stability is ensured by the R-parity. However, if the R-parity is violated, the lightest neutralino decays into the standard model particles and the missing energy cut is not efficient anymore. In particular, the UDD type R-parity violation induces the neutralino decay to three quarks which potentially leads to the most difficult signal to be searched at hadron colliders. In this paper, we study the constraints on the R-parity violating supersymmetric model using a same-sign dilepton and a multijet signatures. We show that the gluino and squarks lighter than a TeV are already excluded in constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model with R-parity violation if their masses are approximately equal. We also analyze constraints in a simplified model with R-parity violation. We compare how R-parity violation changes some of the observables typically used to distinguish a supersymmetric signal from standard model backgrounds.