ACP Seminar (Astronomy - Cosmology - Particle Physics)

Speaker: Steve F. King (University of Southampton)
Title: A Higgs Boson Near 125 GeV Beyond the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
Date (JST): Tue, Oct 30, 2012, 13:30 - 14:30
Place: Seminar Room B
Abstract: The discovery of a new particle with a mass around 125 GeV at the LHC consistent with the SM Higgs is tremendously exciting. However more data are needed to assess its nature, and if careful studies of the signal strengths in different channels reveals discrepancies from the predictions of the SM then this would provide a window into new physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Supersymmetric (SUSY) models are a leading candidate for BSM physics and generically predict one or more light Higgs bosons whose properties may differ in detail from that of the SM Higgs boson. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) such a Higgs mass implies heavy stop squarks and large fine-tuning, however in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) lighter stops and less fine-tuning are possible. In this talk we discuss the possibility that what has been discovered is a Higgs boson arising from the either NMSSM, or an E6 Supersymmetric Standard Model of some kind.