Light Sparticles from a Light Singlet in Gauge Mediation

TL;DR

This paper explores a model combining gauge mediation and the NMSSM to achieve a 125 GeV Higgs with relatively light stops, predicting distinctive collider signatures like b-jets, taus, and displaced vertices.

Contribution

It demonstrates how mixing with a singlet can produce a 125 GeV Higgs and light stops within gauge mediation frameworks, with specific collider phenomenology predictions.

Findings

125 GeV Higgs achieved with 1.1 TeV stops

Potential for early LHC discovery with 10-100 fb cross-section

Distinctive signatures include b-jets, taus, and displaced vertices

Abstract

We revisit a simple model that combines minimal gauge mediation and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that one can obtain a 125 GeV Standard Model-like Higgs boson with stops as light as 1.1 TeV, thanks to the mixing of the Higgs with a singlet state at O(90-100) GeV. Sparticle searches at the LHC may come with additional b-jets or taus and may involve displaced vertices. The sparticle production cross-section at the 13 TeV LHC can be O(10-100) fb, leading to great prospects for discovery in the early phase of LHC Run II.