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Updated: May 23, 2026
07:46
Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Searching for stoponium along with the Higgs boson
Vernon Barger1, Muneyuki Ishida, Wai-Yee Keung
1Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. barger@wisc.edu
Physical Review Letters
|April 3, 2012
Summary
Stoponium, a bound state of the top squark and its antiparticle, may be detected in Higgs boson searches at the LHC. Its detection ratios in WW, ZZ, and photon channels could exceed standard model Higgs boson signals.
Area of Science:
- Particle Physics
- Supersymmetry
- Higgs Boson Physics
Background:
- Stoponium, a bound state of the top squark and its antiparticle, is a prediction of supersymmetric models.
- Higgs boson searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are ongoing.
- The properties of hypothetical particles like stoponium are constrained by current experimental data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential detectability of stoponium in ongoing Higgs searches at the LHC.
- To compare the detection ratios of stoponium in various decay channels (WW, ZZ, γγ) with those of the standard model Higgs boson.
- To assess the current experimental reach for stoponium masses below 150 GeV.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of stoponium production and decay within a supersymmetric framework.
- Comparison of predicted detection ratios for stoponium and the standard model Higgs boson in WW, ZZ, and γγ channels.
- Review of current experimental constraints from ATLAS and CMS collaborations on stoponium mass.
Main Results:
- Stoponium detection ratios relative to the standard model Higgs boson can exceed unity in the WW and ZZ channels, particularly from the WW* threshold to the two Higgs threshold.
- The photon-photon (γγ) decay channel is also identified as a promising channel for stoponium detection.
- Experimental searches by ATLAS and CMS are already probing regions of stoponium mass below 150 GeV.
Conclusions:
- Stoponium presents a compelling target for ongoing and future Higgs searches at the LHC.
- The enhanced detection rates in specific channels suggest that stoponium could be discovered even if its properties differ from the standard model Higgs boson.
- Further dedicated searches and analysis of existing LHC data are crucial for exploring the parameter space of stoponium.
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