Charged Slepton Flavor post the 8 TeV LHC: A Simplified Model Analysis of Low-Energy Constraints and LHC SUSY Searches

TL;DR

This paper investigates how charged slepton flavor mixing affects LHC supersymmetry searches, using simplified models to understand constraints from current and future collider data and low-energy experiments.

Contribution

It provides a model-independent analysis of charged slepton flavor effects on LHC searches, highlighting the importance of flavor information for improving search sensitivity.

Findings

Flavor dependence can significantly alter LHC search reach.

Larger flavor mixings are compatible with constraints at higher masses.

Including full flavor information enhances search sensitivity.

Abstract

Motivated by the null results of LHC searches, which together with the Higgs mass, severely constrain minimal supersymmetric extensions of the standard model, we adopt a model-independent approach to study charged slepton flavor. We examine a number of simplified models, with different subsets of sleptons, electroweak gauginos, and Higgsinos, and derive the allowed slepton flavor dependence in the region probed by current LHC searches, and in the region relevant for the 14 TeV LHC. We then study the impact of the allowed flavor dependence on lepton plus missing energy searches. In some cases, flavor dependence significantly modifies the reach of the searches. These effects may be even larger at the next LHC run, since for the higher masses probed at 14 TeV, larger flavor mixings and relative mass splittings are compatible with low-energy constraints. Retaining the full lepton flavor information can increase the sensitivity of the searches.