The $W$ boson mass is one of the most important electroweak precision observables for testing the Standard Model (SM) or its extensions. The very recent measured $W$ boson mass at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) shows about $7\sigma$ deviations from the SM prediction, which may challenge the internal consistency of the SM. By performing the global electroweak fit with the new $W$ boson, we present the new values of the oblique parameters: $S=0.06\pm 0.10$, $T=0.11\pm 0.12$, $U=0.13\pm 0.09$, or $S=0.14\pm 0.08$, $T=0.26\pm 0.06$ with $U=0$ and the corresponding correlation matrices, which strongly indicates the need for the nondegenerate multiplets beyond the SM. As a proof-of-concept, we show that the new results can be accommodated in the two-Higgs doublet model, where the charged Higgs boson has to be either heavier or lighter than both two heavy neutral Higgs bosons. The collider search for these non-SM Higgs bosons will provide a complementary way to test the new physics for $W$ boson mass anomaly.

We investigate a strategy to search for light, nearly degenerate higgsinos within the natural MSSM at the LHC. We demonstrate that the higgsino mass range μ in 100−160 GeV, which is preferred by the naturalness, can be probed at 3σ significance through the monojet search at 14 TeV HL-LHC with 3000 fb⁻¹ luminosity. The proposed method can also probe certain region in the parameter space for the lightest neutralino with a high higgsino purity, that cannot be reached by planned direct detection experiments at XENON-1 T(2017).

Several pulsar timing array collaborations recently reported evidence of a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at nHz frequencies. While the SGWB could originate from the merger of supermassive black holes, it could be a signature of new physics near the 100 MeV scale. Supercooled first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) that end at the 100 MeV scale are intriguing explanations, because they could connect the nHz signal to new physics at the electroweak scale or beyond. Here, however, we provide a clear demonstration that it is not simple to create a nHz signal from a supercooled phase transition, due to two crucial issues that could rule out many proposed supercooled explanations and should be checked. As an example, we use a model based on nonlinearly realized electroweak symmetry that has been cited as evidence for a supercooled explanation. First, we show that a FOPT cannot complete for the required transition temperature of around 100 MeV. Such supercooling implies a period of vacuum domination that hinders bubble percolation and transition completion. Second, we show that even if completion is not required or if this constraint is evaded, the Universe typically reheats to the scale of any physics driving the FOPT. The hierarchy between the transition and reheating temperature makes it challenging to compute the spectrum of the SGWB. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Top-squarks (stops) play a crucial role for the naturalness of supersymmetry (SUSY). However, searching for the stops is a tough task at the LHC. To dig the stops out of the huge LHC data, various expert-constructed kinematic variables or cutting-edge analysis techniques have been invented. In this paper, we propose to represent collision events as event graphs and use the message passing neutral network (MPNN) to analyze the events. As a proof-of-concept, we use our method in the search of the stop pair production at the LHC, and find that our MPNN can efficiently discriminate the signal and back-ground events. In comparison with other machine learning methods (e.g. DNN), MPNN can enhance the mass reach of stop mass by several tens of GeV to over a hundred GeV.

We report on the status of efforts to improve the reinterpretation of searches and measurements at the LHC in terms of models for new physics, in the context of the LHC Reinterpretation Forum. We detail current experimental offerings in direct searches for new particles, measurements, technical implementations and Open Data, and provide a set of recommendations for further improving the presentation of LHC results in order to better enable reinterpretation in the future. We also provide a brief description of existing software reinterpretation frameworks and recent global analyses of new physics that make use of the current data.