LHC measurements involve cuts on several observables, but resummed calculations are mostly restricted to single variables. We show how the resummation of a class of double-differential measurements can be achieved through an extension of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET). A prototypical application is pp → Z + 0 jets, where the jet veto is imposed through the beam thrust event shape T , and the transverse momentum p T of the Z boson is measured. A standard SCET analysis suffices for p T ∼ m 1/2 Z T 1/2 and p T ∼ T , but additional collinear-soft modes are needed in the intermediate regime. We show how to match the factorization theorems that describe these three different regions of phase space, and discuss the corresponding relations between fully-unintegrated parton distribution functions, soft functions and the newly defined collinear-soft functions. The missing ingredients needed at NNLL/NLO accuracy are calculated, providing a check of our formalism. We also revisit the calculation of the measurement of two angularities on a single jet in JHEP 1409 (2014) 046, finding a correction to their conjecture for the NLL cross section at O(α 2 s ).

We perform a parameter scan of the phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM) with eight parameters taking into account the experimental Higgs boson results from Run I of the LHC and further lowenergy observables. We investigate various MSSM interpretations of the Higgs signal at 125 GeV. First, we consider the case where the light CP-even Higgs boson of the MSSM is identified with the discovered Higgs boson. In this case it can impersonate the SM Higgs-like signal either in the decoupling limit, or in the limit of alignment without decoupling. In the latter case, the other states in the Higgs sector can also be light, offering good prospects for upcoming LHC searches and for searches at future colliders. Second, we demonstrate that the heavy CP-even Higgs boson is still a viable candidate to explain the Higgs signal -albeit only in a highly constrained parameter region, that will be probed by LHC searches for the CP-odd Higgs boson and the charged Higgs boson in the near future. As a guidance for such searches we provide new benchmark scenarios that can be employed to maximize the sensitivity of the experimental analysis to this interpretation. a

Fastlim is a tool to calculate conservative limits on extensions of the Standard Model from direct LHC searches without performing any Monte Carlo event generation. The program reconstructs the visible cross sections (cross sections after event selection cuts) from pre-calculated efficiency tables and cross section tables for simplified event topologies. As a proof of concept of the approach, we have implemented searches relevant for supersymmetric models with R-parity conservation. Fastlim takes the spectrum and coupling information of a given model point and provides, for each signal region of the implemented analyses, the visible cross sections normalised to the corresponding upper limit, reported by the experiments, as well as the value. To demonstrate the utility of the program we study the sensitivity of the recent ATLAS missing energy searches to the parameter space of natural SUSY models. The program structure allows the straightforward inclusion of external efficiency tables and can be generalised to R-parity violating scenarios and non-SUSY models. This paper serves as a self-contained user guide and indicates the conventions and approximations used.

We confront the discovery of a boson decaying to two photons, as reported recently by ATLAS and CMS, with the corresponding predictions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) and the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). We perform a scan over the relevant regions of parameter space in both models and evaluate the MSSM and NMSSM predictions for the dominant Higgs production channel and the photon photon decay channel. Taking into account the experimental constraints from previous direct searches, flavour physics, electroweak measurements as well as theoretical considerations, we find that a Higgs signal in the two photon channel with a rate equal to, or above, the SM prediction is viable over the full mass range 123 GeV < ∼ M H < ∼ 127 GeV, both in the MSSM and the NMSSM. We find that besides the interpretation of a possible signal at about 125 GeV in terms of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson, both the MSSM and the NMSSM permit also a viable interpretation where an observed state at about 125 GeV would correspond to the second-lightest CP-even Higgs boson in the spectrum, which would be accompanied by another light Higgs with suppressed couplings to W and Z bosons. We find that a significant enhancement of the γγ rate, compatible with the signal strenghts observed by ATLAS and CMS, is possible in both the MSSM and the NMSSM, and we analyse in detail different mechanisms in the two models that can give rise to such an enhancement. We briefly discuss also our predictions in the two models for the production and subsequent decay into two photons of a CP-odd Higgs boson. *

A Higgs-like particle with a mass of about 126 GeV has been discovered at the LHC. Within the experimental uncertainties, the measured properties of this new state are compatible with those of the Higgs boson in the Standard Model (SM). While not statistically significant at present, the results show some interesting patterns of deviations from the SM predictions, in particular a higher rate in the γγ decay mode observed by ATLAS and CMS, and a somewhat smaller rate in the τ + τ − mode. The LHC discovery is also compatible with the predictions of the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), interpreting the new state as either the light or the heavy CP-even MSSM Higgs boson. Within the framework of the MSSM with seven free parameters (pMSSM-7), we fit the various rates of cross section times branching ratio as measured by the LHC and Tevatron experiments under the hypotheses of either the light or the heavy CP-even Higgs boson being the new state around 126 GeV, with and without the inclusion of further lowenergy observables. We find an overall good quality of the fits, with the best fit points exhibiting an enhancement of the γγ rate, as well as a small suppression of the bb and τ + τ − channels with respect to their SM expectations, depending on the details of the fit. For the fits including the whole data set the light CP-even Higgs interpretation in the MSSM results in a higher relative fit probability than the SM fit. On the other hand, we find that the present data also permit the more exotic interpretation in terms of the heavy CP-even MSSM Higgs, which could give rise to experimental signatures of additional Higgs states in the near future. * Electronic address: bechtle@physik.uni-bonn.de †