Electrically neutral massive color-singlet and color-octet vector bosons, which are often predicted in theories beyond the Standard Model, have the potential to be discovered as dijet resonances at the LHC. A color-singlet resonance that has leptophobic couplings needs further investigation to be distinguished from a color-octet one. In previous work, we introduced a method for discriminating between the two kinds of resonances when their couplings are flavor universal, using measurements of the dijet resonance mass, total decay width, and production cross section. Here, we describe an extension of that method to cover a more general scenario, in which the vector resonances could have flavor-nonuniversal couplings; essentially, we incorporate measurements of the heavy-flavor decays of the resonance into the method. We present our analysis in a model-independent manner for a dijet resonance with mass 2.5-6.0 TeV at the LHC with s=14TeV and integrated luminosities of 30, 100, 300, and 1000fb-1 and show that the measurements of the heavy-flavor decays should allow conclusive identification of the vector boson. Note that our method is generally applicable even for a Z' boson with non-Standard invisible decays. We include an Appendix of results for various resonance couplings and masses to illustrate how well each observable must be measured to distinguish colorons from Z's.

LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in \gamma\gamma\ or \tau\tau\ decay modes place strong constraints on the light technipion state predicted in technicolor models that include colored technifermions. Compared with the standard Higgs Boson, the technipions have an enhanced production rate (largely because the technipion decay constant is smaller than the weak scale) and also enhanced branching ratios into di-photon and di-tau final states (largely due to the suppression of WW decays of the technipions). Recent ATLAS and CMS searches for Higgs bosons exclude the presence of technipions with masses from 110 GeV to nearly 2m_t in technicolor models that (a) include colored technifermions (b) feature topcolor dynamics and (c) have technicolor groups with three or more technicolors (N_{TC} > 3).

In the earliest stages of evaluating new collider data, especially if a small excess may be present, it would be useful to have a method for comparing the data with entire classes of models, to get an immediate sense of which classes could conceivably be relevant. In this paper, we propose a method that applies when the new physics invoked to explain the excess corresponds to the production and decay of a single, relatively narrow, $s$-channel resonance. A simplifed model of the resonance allows us to convert an estimated signal cross section into model-independent bounds on the product of the branching ratios corresponding to production and decay. This quickly reveals whether a given class of models could possibly produce a signal of the required size at the LHC. Our work sets up a general framework, outlines how it operates for resonances with different numbers of production and decay modes, and analyzes cases of current experimental interest, including resonances decaying to dibosons, diphotons, dileptons, or dijets. If the LHC experiments were to report their searches for new resonances beyond the standard model in the simplified limits variable $\zeta$ defined in this paper, that would make it far easier to avoid blind alleys and home in on the most likely candidate models to explain any observed excesses.

LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in γγ or ττ decay modes place strong constraints on the light technipion state predicted in technicolor models that include colored technifermions. Compared with the standard Higgs Boson, the technipions have an enhanced production rate (largely because the technipion decay constant is smaller than the weak scale) and also enhanced branching ratios into di-photon and di-tau final states (largely due to the suppression of WW decays of the technipions). These factors combine to make the technipions more visible in both channels than a standard model Higgs would be. Hence, the recent ATLAS and CMS searches for Higgs bosons exclude the presence of technipions with masses from 110GeV to nearly 2m t in technicolor models that (a)include colored technifermions (b)feature topcolor dynamics and (c)have technicolor groups with three or more technicolors (N TC3). For certain models, the limits also apply out to higher technipion masses or down to the minimum number of technicolors (N TC=2). The limits may be softened somewhat in models where extended technicolor plays a significant role in producing the top quark's mass. Additional LHC data on di-tau and di-photon final states will be extremely valuable in further exploring technicolor parameter space. © 2011 American Physical Society.

As we amass more LHC data, we continue to search for new and improved methods of visualizing search results, in ways that are as model-independent as possible. The simplified limits framework is an approach developed to recast limits on searches for narrow resonances in terms of products of branching ratios (BRs) corresponding to the resonance's production and decay modes. In this work, we extend the simplified limits framework to a multidimensional parameter space of BRs, which can be used to unfold an ambiguity in the simplified parameter $\zeta$ introduced when more than one channel contributes to the production of the resonance. It is also naturally applicable to combining constraints from experimental searches with different observed final states. Constraints can be visualized in a three-dimensional space of branching ratios by employing ternary diagrams, triangle plots which utilize the inherent unitarity of the sum of the resonance's BRs. To demonstrate this new methodology, we recast constraints from recent ATLAS searches in diboson final states for spin-0, 1, and 2 narrow resonances into constraints on the resonance's width-to-mass ratio and display them in the space of relevant branching ratios. We also demonstrate how to generalize the method to cases where more than three branching ratios are relevant by using N-simplex diagrams, and we suggest a broader application of the general method to digital data sets.

Recently, we introduced an approach for more easily interpreting searches for resonances at the LHC - and to aid in distinguishing between realistic and unrealistic alternatives for potential signals. This `simplfied limits' approach was derived using the narrow width approximation (NWA) - and therefore was not obviously relevant in the case of wider resonances. Here, we broaden the scope of the analysis. First, we explicitly generalize the formalism to encompass resonances of finite width. We then examine how the width of the resonance modifies bounds on new resonances that are extracted from LHC searches. Second, we demonstrate, using a wide variety of cases, with different incoming partons, resonance properties, and decay signatures, that the limits derived in the NWA yield pertinant, and somewhat conservative (less stringent) bounds on the model parameters. We conclude that the original simplified limits approach is useful in the early stages of evaluating and interpreting new collider data and that the generalized approach is a valuable further aid when evidence points toward a broader resonance.

Dijet resonance searches are simple, yet powerful and model-independent, probes for discovering new particles at hadron colliders. Once such a resonance has been discovered it is important to determine the mass, spin, couplings, chiral behavior and color properties to determine the underlying theoretical structure. We propose a new variable which, in the absence of decays of the resonance into new nonstandard states, distinguishes between color-octet and color-singlet resonances. To keep our study widely applicable we study phenomenological models of color-octet and color-singlet resonances in flavor universal as well as flavor nonuniversal scenarios. We present our analysis for a wide range of mass (2.5-6 TeV), couplings and flavor scenarios for the LHC with center of mass energy of 14 TeV and varying integrated luminosities of 30, 100, 300 and 1000 fb-1. We find encouraging results to distinguish color-octet and color-singlet resonances for different flavor scenarios at the LHC. © 2013 American Physical Society.

The LHC is actively searching for narrow dijet resonances corresponding to physics beyond the standard model. Among the many resonances that have been postulated (e.g., colored vectors, scalars, and fermions) one that would have a particularly large production rate at the LHC would be a scalar diquark produced in the s channel via fusion of two valence quarks. In previous work, we introduced a color discriminant variable that distinguishes among various dijet resonances, drawing on measurements of the dijet resonance mass, total decay width and production cross section. Here, we show that this model-independent method applies well to color-triplet and color-sextet scalar diquarks, distinguishing them clearly from other candidate resonances. We also introduce a more transparent theoretical formulation of the color discriminant variable that highlights its relationship to the branching ratios of the resonance into incoming and outgoing partons and to the properties of those partons. While the original description of the color discriminant variable remains convenient for phenomenological use upon discovery of a new resonance, the new formulation makes it easier to predict the value of the variable for a given class of resonance.

A narrow resonance decaying to dijets could be discovered at the 14 TeV run of the LHC. To quickly identify its color structure in a model-independent manner, we introduced a method based on a color discriminant variable, determined from the measurements of the resonance's production cross section, mass and width. This talk introduces a more transparent theoretical formulation of the color discriminant variable that highlights its relationship to the branching ratios of the resonance into incoming and outgoing partons and to the properties of those partons. The formulation makes it easier to predict the value of the variable for a given class of resonance. We show that this method applies well to color-triplet and color-sextet scalar diquarks, distinguishing them clearly from other candidate resonances.

If an excess potentially heralding new physics is noticed in collider data, it would be useful to be able to compare the data with entire classes of models at once. This talk discusses a method that applies when the new physics corresponds to the production and decay of a single, relatively narrow, s-channel resonance. A simplifed model of the resonance allows us to convert an estimated signal cross section into model-independent bounds on the product of the branching ratios corresponding to production and decay. This quickly reveals whether a given class of models could possibly produce a signal of the observed size. We will describe how to apply our analysis framework to cases of current experimental interest, including resonances decaying to dibosons, diphotons, dileptons, or dijets.