Impact of LSP Character on Slepton Reach at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how the nature of the lightest supersymmetric particle affects slepton detection prospects at the LHC, providing updated bounds and projections for different LSP scenarios.

Contribution

It extends existing LHC slepton search analyses to various LSP types, revealing how the LSP's nature influences slepton mass bounds and discovery potential.

Findings

LHC bounds on sleptons are stronger for non-Bino-like LSPs.

Projected slepton mass reach varies significantly with LSP type.

Higgsino-like LSP scenarios offer the highest detection reach.

Abstract

Searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have significantly constrained the parameter space associated with colored superpartners, whereas the constraints on color-singlet superpartners are considerably less severe. In this study, we investigate the dependence of slepton decay branching fractions on the nature of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). In particular, in the Higgsino-like LSP scenarios, both decay branching fractions of $\tilde\ell_L$ and $\tilde\nu_\ell$ depend strongly on the sign and value of $M_1/M_2$, which has strong implications for the reach of dilepton plus MET searches for slepton pair production. We extend the experimental results for same flavor, opposite sign dilepton plus MET searches at the 8 TeV LHC to various LSP scenarios. We find that the LHC bounds on sleptons are strongly enhanced for a non-Bino-like LSP: the 95% C.L. limit for $m_{\tilde\ell_L}$ extends from 300 GeV for a Bino-like LSP to about 370 GeV for a Wino-like LSP. The bound for $\tilde\ell_L$ with a Higgsino-like LSP is the strongest (~ 490 GeV) for $M_1/M_2$ ~ $-\tan^2\theta_W$ and is the weakest (~ 220 GeV) for $M_1/M_2$ ~ $\tan^2\theta_W$. We also calculate prospective slepton search reaches at the 14 TeV LHC. With 100 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, the projected 95% C.L. mass reach for the left-handed slepton varies from 550 (670) GeV for a Bino-like (Wino-like) LSP to 900 (390) GeV for a Higgsino-like LSP under the most optimistic (pessimistic) scenario. The reach for the right-handed slepton is about 440 GeV. The corresponding 5$\sigma$ discovery sensitivity is about 100 GeV smaller. For 300 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, the reach is about 50 - 100 GeV higher.