General NMSSM signatures at the LHC

Abstract

We study the possible LHC collider signatures in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM). The general NMSSM consists of 29 supersymmetric (SUSY) particles which can be mass ordered in $29! \simeq 9 \cdot 10^{30}$ ways. To reduce the number of hierarchies to a more manageable amount we assume a degeneracy of the sfermions of the first two generations with the same quantum numbers. Further assumptions about the neutralino and chargino masses leave 15 unrelated parameters. We check all $15! \approx 10^{12}$ relevant mass orderings for the dominant decay chains and the corresponding collider signatures at the LHC. As preferred signatures, we consider charged leptons, missing transverse momentum, jets, and W, Z or Higgs bosons. We present the results for three different choices of the singlet to Higgs coupling $\lambda$: (a) small: $O(\lambda)< O(Y_{\tau})$, (b) large: $O(\lambda)\simeq O(Y_{top},Y_b, Y_\tau)$ and (c) dominant: $O(\lambda)>O(Y_{top})$. We compare these three scenarios with the MSSM expectations as well as among each other. We also mention a possible mass hierarchy leading to 7 jets plus 1 lepton signatures at the LHC and comment briefly on the consequence of possible R-parity violation.