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Search for supersymmetry in the final state containing two hadronically decaying taus and missing transverse momentum with 77.2 fb−1 of data collected by the CMS Detector from 13 TeV proton-proton collisions

Abstract

The dissertation herein presents the latest public search for direct tau slepton (τ ̃), the superpartner of the tau lepton) production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The search is performed using data collected from the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment. A total of 77.2 fb−1 of data from proton-proton (pp) collisions at 13 TeV are recorded and analyzed. The analysis probes the final state with the largest branching fraction from τ ̃ decays, that of two hadronic taus (τ).

No significant deviation from Standard Model expectations are observed in the data and accordingly, a 95% confidence level upper limit on the direct stau pair production cross section is set. Mass degenerate stau pair production is excluded for minimally supersymmetric models (MSSM) with m(τ ̃) ∈ 90-150 GeV. Similarly, exclusion is expected for left-handed only pair production with m(τ ̃)=125 GeV. However, no such exclusion is observed in the data.

These results motivate an additional study carried out in a simulation of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) environment with the CMS Phase-2 detector. This scenario corresponds to 3000 fb−1 of data taken at a center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV. The study shows sufficient sensitivity to formally expect the discovery of mass degenerate direct stau pair production for m(τ ̃) ∈ [100, 650 GeV].

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