- Open Access
Visible collider signals of natural quirks
Phys. Rev. D 111, 115021 – Published 20 June, 2025Erratum Phys. Rev. D 113, 079901 (2026)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/34xj-vz82
Abstract
Though some LHC searches for new physics exceed the TeV scale, there may be discoveries waiting to be made at much lower masses. We outline a simple quirk model, motivated by models that address the hierarchy problem through neutral naturalness, in which new electroweakly charged states with masses as low as 100 GeV have not yet been probed by the LHC. We also describe a novel search strategy which is complementary to current search methods. In particular, we show its potential to discover natural quirks over regions of parameter space that present methods will leave unexplored, even after the LHC’s high-luminosity run.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Erratum
Erratum: Visible collider signals of natural quirks [Phys. Rev. D 111, 115021 (2025)]
Article Text
References (77)
- ATLAS Collaboration, Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716, 1 (2012).
- CMS Collaboration, Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC, Phys. Lett. B 716, 30 (2012).
- P. Koppenburg (LHCb Collaboration), List of hadrons observed at the LHC, Report No. LHCb-FIGURE-2021-001, https://cds.cern.ch/record/2749030; Updates, 2021, https://www.koppenburg.ch/particles.html.
- L. B. Okun, Thetons, Pis’ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 31, 156 (1979).
- L. B. Okun, Theta particles, Nucl. Phys. B173, 1 (1980).
- J. Kang and M. A. Luty, Macroscopic strings and ‘quirks’ at colliders, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2009) 065.
- S. Knapen, H. K. Lou, M. Papucci, and J. Setford, Tracking down quirks at the large hadron collider, Phys. Rev. D 96, 115015 (2017).
- M. Farina and M. Low, Constraining quirky tracks with conventional searches, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 111801 (2017).
- J. Li, T. Li, J. Pei, and W. Zhang, The quirk trajectory, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 651 (2020).
- Q. Sha, D. Murnane, M. Fieg, S. Tong, M. Zakharyan, Y. Fang et al., Learning to reconstruct quirky tracks, arXiv:2410.00269.
- J. A. Evans and M. A. Luty, Stopping quirks at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2019) 090.
- J. Li, T. Li, J. Pei, and W. Zhang, Uncovering quirk signal via energy loss inside tracker, Phys. Rev. D 102, 056006 (2020).
- J. L. Feng, J. Li, X. Liao, J. Ni, and J. Pei, Discovering quirks through timing at FASER and future forward experiments at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2024) 197.
- N. Craig, Naturalness: Past, present, and future, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 825 (2023).
- B. Batell, M. Low, E. T. Neil, and C. B. Verhaaren, Review of neutral naturalness, in Snowmass 2021 (2022), arXiv:2203.05531.
- Z. Chacko, H.-S. Goh, and R. Harnik, The twin Higgs: Natural electroweak breaking from mirror symmetry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 231802 (2006).
- N. Craig, A. Katz, M. Strassler, and R. Sundrum, Naturalness in the dark at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2015) 105.
- T. Cohen, N. Craig, G. F. Giudice, and M. Mccullough, The hyperbolic Higgs, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2018) 091.
- H.-C. Cheng, L. Li, E. Salvioni, and C. B. Verhaaren, Singlet scalar top partners from accidental supersymmetry, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2018) 057.
- G. Burdman, Z. Chacko, H.-S. Goh, and R. Harnik, Folded supersymmetry and the LEP paradox, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2007) 009.
- H. Cai, H.-C. Cheng, and J. Terning, A quirky little Higgs model, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2009) 045.
- D. Egana-Ugrinovic, M. Low, and J. T. Ruderman, Charged fermions below 100 GeV, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2018) 012.
- D. Curtin and C. B. Verhaaren, Discovering uncolored naturalness in exotic Higgs decays, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2015) 072.
- B. Batell, W. Hu, and C. B. Verhaaren, Breaking mirror twin color, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2020) 009.
- M. J. Teper, Glueball masses and other physical properties of SU(N) gauge theories in : A review of lattice results for theorists, arXiv:hep-th/9812187.
- C. J. Morningstar and M. J. Peardon, The glueball spectrum from an anisotropic lattice study, Phys. Rev. D 60, 034509 (1999).
- B. Lucini, A. Rago, and E. Rinaldi, Glueball masses in the large N limit, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2010) 119.
- A. Athenodorou and M. Teper, SU(N) gauge theories in dimensions: Glueball spectrum, string tensions and topology, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2021) 082.
- J. E. Juknevich, Pure-glue hidden valleys through the Higgs portal, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2010) 121.
- C. Csaki, E. Kuflik, S. Lombardo, and O. Slone, Searching for displaced Higgs boson decays, Phys. Rev. D 92, 073008 (2015).
- Z. Chacko, D. Curtin, and C. B. Verhaaren, A quirky probe of neutral naturalness, Phys. Rev. D 94, 011504 (2016).
- D. Curtin and C. B. Verhaaren, Quirky explanations for the diphoton excess, Phys. Rev. D 93, 055011 (2016).
- L.-X. Xu, J.-H. Yu, and S.-H. Zhu, Minimal neutral naturalness model, Phys. Rev. D 101, 095014 (2020).
- H.-C. Cheng, L. Li, E. Salvioni, and C. B. Verhaaren, Light Hidden Mesons through the Z Portal, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2019) 031.
- A. Ahmed, S. Najjari, and C. B. Verhaaren, A minimal model for neutral naturalness and pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone dark matter, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2020) 007.
- S. P. Martin, Quirks in supersymmetry with gauge coupling unification, Phys. Rev. D 83, 035019 (2011).
- J. Li, J. Pei, L. Ran, and W. Zhang, The quirk signal at FASER and FASER 2, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2021) 109.
- M. W. Barela and R. Capdevilla, Di-Higgs signatures in neutral naturalness, J. High Energy Phys. 2024 (2024) 050.
- J. Li, X. Liao, J. Ni, and J. Pei, Detection prospects of long-lived quirk pairs at the LHC far detectors, Phys. Rev. D 109, 095005 (2024).
- N. Craig and H. K. Lou, Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking in 4D, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2014) 184.
- T. Cohen, N. Craig, H. K. Lou, and D. Pinner, Folded supersymmetry with a twist, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2016) 196.
- T. Gherghetta, M. Nguyen, and Z. Thomas, Neutral naturalness with bifundamental gluinos, Phys. Rev. D 94, 115008 (2016).
- ATLAS Collaboration, Measurements of and production in collisions at with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, Phys. Rev. D 87, 112003 (2013).
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for new resonances in and final states in collisions at with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Lett. B 738, 428 (2014).
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for high-mass and resonances using hadronic boson decays from of pp collisions at with the ATLAS detector, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2023) 125.
- CMS Collaboration, Search for a resonance decaying to a W boson and a photon in proton-proton collisions at using leptonic W boson decays, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2024) 186.
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for diboson resonances in hadronic final states in of collisions at with the ATLAS detector, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2019) 091.
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for heavy diboson resonances in semileptonic final states in pp collisions at with the ATLAS detector, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 1165 (2020).
- CMS Collaboration, Search for heavy resonances decaying to ZZ or ZW and axion-like particles mediating nonresonant ZZ or ZH production at , J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2022) 087.
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for resonant WZ production in the fully leptonic final state in proton–proton collisions at with the ATLAS detector, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 633 (2023).
- G. Burdman, Z. Chacko, H.-S. Goh, R. Harnik, and C. A. Krenke, The quirky collider signals of folded supersymmetry, Phys. Rev. D 78, 075028 (2008).
- G. Burdman, Z. Chacko, R. Harnik, L. de Lima, and C. B. Verhaaren, Colorless top partners, a 125 GeV Higgs, and the limits on naturalness, Phys. Rev. D 91, 055007 (2015).
- R. M. Capdevilla, R. Harnik, and A. Martin, The radiation valley and exotic resonances in production at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2020) 117.
- B. Lucini, M. Teper, and U. Wenger, Glueballs and k-strings in SU(N) gauge theories: Calculations with improved operators, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2004) 012.
- M. Teper, Large N and confining flux tubes as strings—a view from the lattice, Acta Phys. Pol. B 40, 3249 (2009).
- R. Harnik and T. Wizansky, Signals of new physics in the underlying event, Phys. Rev. D 80, 075015 (2009).
- B. Lucini and G. Moraitis, The running of the coupling in SU(N) pure gauge theories, Phys. Lett. B 668, 226 (2008).
- Y. Chen et al., Glueball spectrum and matrix elements on anisotropic lattices, Phys. Rev. D 73, 014516 (2006).
- H. B. Meyer, Glueball matrix elements: A lattice calculation and applications, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2009) 071.
- A. Djouadi, J. Kalinowski, and M. Spira, HDECAY: A program for Higgs boson decays in the standard model and its supersymmetric extension, Comput. Phys. Commun. 108, 56 (1998).
- HDECAY Collaboration, HDECAY: years after, Comput. Phys. Commun. 238, 214 (2019).
- M. E. Peskin and T. Takeuchi, Estimation of oblique electroweak corrections, Phys. Rev. D 46, 381 (1992).
- Particle Data Group, Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
- D. Curtin, C. Gemmell, and C. B. Verhaaren, Simulating glueball production in QCD, Phys. Rev. D 106, 075015 (2022).
- A. Batz, T. Cohen, D. Curtin, C. Gemmell, and G. D. Kribs, Dark sector glueballs at the LHC, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2024) 070.
- J. Alwall, R. Frederix, S. Frixione, V. Hirschi, F. Maltoni, O. Mattelaer et al., The automated computation of tree-level and next-to-leading order differential cross sections, and their matching to parton shower simulations, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2014) 079.
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for resonances decaying into photon pairs in of collisions at with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Lett. B 822, 136651 (2021).
- CMS Collaboration, Search for heavy resonances decaying to WW, WZ, or WH boson pairs in the lepton plus merged jet final state in proton-proton collisions at , Phys. Rev. D 105, 032008 (2022).
- A. D. Martin, W. J. Stirling, R. S. Thorne, and G. Watt, Parton distributions for the LHC, Eur. Phys. J. C 63, 189 (2009).
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for long-lived, massive particles in events with displaced vertices and multiple jets in pp collisions at with the ATLAS detector, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2023) 200.
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in collisions at , Phys. Lett. B 743, 15 (2015).
- ATLAS Collaboration, Search for long-lived, weakly interacting particles that decay to displaced hadronic jets in proton-proton collisions at with the ATLAS detector, Phys. Rev. D 92, 012010 (2015).
- S. P. Martin, Diphoton decays of stoponium at the large hadron collider, Phys. Rev. D 77, 075002 (2008).
- G. D. Kribs, T. S. Roy, J. Terning, and K. M. Zurek, Quirky composite dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 81, 095001 (2010).
- R. Fok and G. D. Kribs, Chiral quirkonium decays, Phys. Rev. D 84, 035001 (2011).
- R. Harnik, G. D. Kribs, and A. Martin, Quirks at the tevatron and beyond, Phys. Rev. D 84, 035029 (2011).
- R. K. Ellis, W. J. Stirling, and B. R. Webber, QCD and Collider Physics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2011), Vol. 8, 10.1017/CBO9780511628788.