Elodie Deborah Resseguie (U. Pennsylvania) "Electroweak SUSY Searches on ATLAS"

ABSTRACT:
Supersymmetry (SUSY) gives a solution to the naturalness problem of the Standard Model (SM) while providing a candidate for dark matter, solving two mysteries in modern physics. As the LHC collects more data and sets strong constraints on SUSY in the strong force sector within reach of the collider, new SUSY particles produced by electroweak (EWK) processes remain significantly less unconstrained. The EWK production of SUSY particles can be observed by their decay via the W and Z gauge bosons to final states with two or three leptons and missing transverse momentum from invisible particles. Two SUSY models are considered: one with a Wino next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and Bino LSP, motivated by dark matter, and another with a Higgsino LSP, motivated by naturalness. The Higgsino LSP models are particularly challenging due to the small mass, or “compressed”, splittings, leading to low energy W and Z bosons. This requires specialized techniques for triggering, optimizing, and estimating backgrounds. I will present the latest ATLAS searches for both models, including the first result for Higgsino production since LEP, as well the outlook for future studies.