Abstract
We consider a light supersymmetric top-quark (top-squark) scenario, where a top squark and a neutralino are the lightest supersymmetric particles and the top-squark mass is close to the sum of the neutralino mass and the top-quark mass. In this scenario, the top quark and the neutralino coming from the decay of a top squark have almost equal velocity vectors, and hence the missing transverse momentum in top-squark pair production events at colliders is suppressed, which makes the top-squark search challenging, as in the degenerate scenario where the top-squark mass and the neutralino mass are similar. In this paper, we propose a novel analysis technique aimed at discovering the top-squark pair production signal in such an “equal-velocity” scenario. The key is to look for events where the missing transverse momentum vector is proportional to the transverse momentum vector of the top-quark pair with specific values for the proportionality coefficient, as this coefficient is equal to the ratio of the neutralino mass over the top-quark mass in the equal-velocity limit. We examine the possibility that the top-squark signal can be identified at the LHC using our analysis method.
- Received 5 July 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.094007
© 2015 American Physical Society