Speaker
Christopher Verhaaren
(University of Maryland, College Park)
Description
Theories of physics beyond the Standard Model that address the hierarchy problem generally have partner particles to the top quark that cancel its divergent contributions to the Higgs mass. Following the penetrating, but as yet unfruitful, searches for new colored particles at the LHC, natural extensions of the standard model with color neutral top partners are increasing in appeal. While direct production of these partners can be relatively difficult, because they have sizable couplings to the Higgs boson they can have measurable effects on Higgs production and decay when the particles are not too heavy, or when the theory is natural. We show these variations from standard model Higgs physics for the Twin Higgs, Folded Supersymmetry, and Quirky Little Higgs models. In particular, LHC Higgs physics alone will not be able to strongly disfavor natural realizations of these models. We also discuss additional collider studies that may meaningfully constrain, or discover, these models.
Author
Christopher Verhaaren
(University of Maryland, College Park)