Fall 2006 - Spring 2007

• MARMOSET: The Path from LHC Data to the New Standard Model via On-Shell Effective Theories.
  Nima Arkani-Hamed, Bruce Knuteson, Stephen Mrenna, Philip Schuster, Jesse Thaler, Natalia Toro, and Lian-Tao Wang.
  hep-ph/0703088

Summer/Fall 2005

The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is one of the leading candidates for a theory beyond the standard model. The MSSM predicts a new supersymmetric partner particle for every standard model particle, effectively doubling the known number of fundamental states.

In principle, the spectrum of these partner states can yield information about the ultraviolet structure of the standard model. However, we found that given a generic strategy for analyzing LHC data, there are often discrete ambiguities in trying to determine the pattern of supersymmetric states. Moreover, these ambiguities are difficult to identify, because they correspond to drastically rearranging the MSSM spectrum.

The presence of discrete ambiguities in interpreting LHC data is known as the LHC Inverse Problem. It is an “inverse problem” because it is well-known how to solve the forward problem of determining the LHC signatures for a particular model. The LHC Inverse Problem implies that even if one model fits the data well, other models might fit the data equally well. Therefore, we are inspired to search for new methods to analyze LHC data to resolve these discrete ambiguities.

• Supersymmetry and the LHC Inverse Problem.
  Nima Arkani-Hamed, Gordon L. Kane, Jesse Thaler, and Lian-Tao Wang.
  JHEP 0608:070 (2006) hep-ph/0512190.