Measuring top-quark polarization in top-pair + missing-energy events.

The polarization of a top quark can be sensitive to new physics beyond the standard model. Since the charged lepton from top-quark decay is maximally correlated with the top-quark spin, it is common to measure the polarization from the distribution in the angle between the charged lepton and the top-quark directions. We propose a novel method based on the charged lepton energy fraction and illustrate the method with a detailed simulation of top-quark pairs produced in supersymmetric top squark pair production.

Top quark production asymmetries A(FB)t and A(FB)ℓ.

A large forward-backward asymmetry is seen in both the top quark rapidity distribution A(FB)(t) and in the rapidity distribution of charged leptons A(FB)(ℓ) from top quarks produced at the Tevatron. We study the kinematic and dynamic aspects of the relationship of the two observables arising from the spin correlation between the charged lepton and the top quark with different polarization states. We emphasize the value of both measurements, and we conclude that a new physics model which produces more right-handed than left-handed top quarks is favored by the present data.

Top quark forward-backward asymmetry and same-sign top quark pairs.

The top quark forward-backward asymmetry measured at the Tevatron collider shows a large deviation from standard model expectations. Among possible interpretations, a nonuniversal Z' model is of particular interest as it naturally predicts a top quark in the forward region of large rapidity. To reproduce the size of the asymmetry, the couplings of the Z' to standard model quarks must be large, inevitably leading to copious production of same-sign top quark pairs at the energies of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Observable T7 lepton flavor symmetry at the Large Hadron Collider.

More often than not, models of flavor symmetry rely on the use of nonrenormalizable operators (in the guise of flavons) to accomplish the phenomenologically successful tribimaximal mixing of neutrinos. We show instead how a simple renormalizable two-parameter neutrino mass model of tribimaximal mixing can be constructed with the non-Abelian discrete symmetry T(7) and the gauging of B-L. This is also achieved without the addition of auxiliary symmetries and particles present in almost all other proposals.

Color sextet scalars in early LHC experiments.

We explore the potential for discovery of an exotic color sextet scalar in same-sign top quark pair production in early running at the LHC. We present the first phenomenological analysis at colliders of color sextet scalars with full top quark spin correlations included. We demonstrate that one can measure the scalar mass, the top quark polarization, and confirm the scalar resonance with 1  fb⁻¹ of integrated luminosity.

Light minimal supersymmetric standard model Higgs boson scenario and its test at hadron colliders.

We show that, in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, the possibility for the lightest CP-even Higgs boson to be lighter than Z boson (as low as about 60 GeV) is, contrary to the usual belief, not yet excluded by the CERN LEP2 Higgs search nor any direct searches for supersymmetric particles at high energy colliders. The characteristic of the light Higgs boson scenario (LHS) is that the ZZh coupling and the decay branching ratio Br(h/A-->bb) are simultaneously suppressed as a result of generic supersymmetric loop corrections. Consequently, the W(+/-)H(-/+)h coupling has to be large due to the sum rule of Higgs couplings to weak gauge bosons.

Combined effect of QCD resummation and QED radiative correction to W boson observables at the Tevatron.

A precise determination of the W boson mass at the Fermilab Tevatron requires a theoretical calculation in which the effects of the initial-state multiple soft-gluon emission and the final-state photonic correction are simultaneously included. Here, we present such a calculation and discuss its prediction on the transverse mass distribution of the W boson and the transverse momentum distribution of its decay charged lepton, which are the most relevant observables for measuring the W boson mass at hadron colliders.