TASI 2009 Lectures: Searching for Unexpected Physics at the LHC

Abstract

These TASI lectures consider low mass hidden sectors from Hidden Valleys, Quirks and Unparticles. We show how each corresponds to a different limit of the same class of models: hidden sectors with non-abelian gauge groups with mass gaps well below a TeV that communicate to the Standard Model through weak scale suppressed higher dimension operators. We provide concrete examples of such models and discuss LHC signatures. Lastly we turn to discussing the application of Hidden Valleys to dark matter sectors.