Search for supersymmetry in events with photons, bottom quarks, and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for supersymmetric particles in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV, focusing on events with photons, bottom quarks, and missing energy, finding no significant excess over the Standard Model background.

Contribution

It presents the first search for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking signatures with this specific final state using the full 7 TeV dataset from ATLAS.

Findings

7 candidate events observed, consistent with background expectations

Excluded regions in the higgsino-like neutralino production parameter space

Set limits on supersymmetric models with gauge-mediated breaking

Abstract

A search has been performed for the experimental signature of an isolated photon with high transverse momentum, at least one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark, and high missing transverse momentum. Such a final state may originate from supersymmetric models with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking in events in which one of a pair of higgsino-like neutralinos decays into a photon and a gravitino while the other decays into a Higgs boson and a gravitino. The search is performed using the full dataset of 7 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1. A total of 7 candidate events are observed while 7.5 pm 2.2 events are expected from the Standard Model background. The results of the search are interpreted in the context of general gauge mediation to exclude certain regions of a benchmark plane for higgsino-like neutralino production.