Supersymmetry: What is it and how to search for it

by Xerxes Tata (University of Hawaii)

Thursday 12 Dec 2024, 16:15 → 18:15 Europe/Berlin

Symmetry considerations have played a big role in the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics which has been spectacularly confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. The instability of the Higgs sector to quantum corrections when the SM is embedded into a high scale framework such as Grand Unification, however, suggests that there should be new physics at around the TeV scale being explored at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. We focus on one possibility for the new physics: weak scale supersymmetry (WSS), a novel symmetry between bosons and fermions. We explain why WSS implies an as yet undiscovered superpartner for every SM particle with essentially the same interaction strength, a spin differing by 1/2, but unknown mass. Next, we outline how these superpartners might be discovered via various types of searches, including those at the CERN LHC. Time permitting, we will argue why the non-appearance of superpartners at the LHC does not represent a crisis, contrary to what has been implied by some authors. We will end with a brief discussion of prospects for discovering superpartners at the luminosity upgrade of the LHC, and touch upon prospects at future colliders.