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A bstract We consider a color octet scalar particle and its exotic decay in the channel gluon- γ using an effective Lagrangian description for its strong and electromagnetic interactions. Such a state is present in many extensions of the Standard Model, and in particular in composite Higgs models with top partial compositeness, where couplings to photons arise via the Wess-Zumino-Witten term. We find that final states with one or two photons allow for a better reach at the LHC, even for small branching ratios. Masses up to 1 . 2 TeV can be probed at the HL-LHC by use of all final states. Finally, we estimate the sensitivity of the hadronic FCC.

A bstract We consider a particular composite Higgs model which contains SU(3) color octet top partners besides the usually considered triplet representations. Moreover, color singlet top partners are present as well which can in principle serve as dark matter candidates. We investigate the LHC phenomenology of these unusual top partners. Some of these states could be confused with gluinos predicted in supersymmetric models at first glance.

A bstract Higgs sectors extended by electroweakly charged scalars can be explored by scalar pair production at the LHC. We consider a fermiophobic scenario, with decays into a pair of gauge bosons, and a fermiophilic one, with decays into top and bottom quarks. After establishing the current bounds on simplified models, we focus on an SU(5)/SO(5) composite Higgs model. This first exploration demonstrates the need for dedicated searches at current and future colliders.

A bstract Composite Higgs Models are often constructed including fermionic top partners with a mass around the TeV scale, with the top partners playing the role of stabilizing the Higgs potential and enforcing partial compositeness for the top quark. A class of models of this kind can be formulated in terms of fermionic strongly coupled gauge theories. A common feature they all share is the presence of specific additional scalar resonances, namely two neutral singlets and a colored octet, described by a simple effective Lagrangian. We study the phenomenology of these scalars, both in a model independent and model dependent way, including the bounds from all the available searches in the relevant channels with di-boson and di-top final states. We develop a generic framework which can be used to constrain any model containing pseudo-scalar singlets or octets. Using it, we find that such signatures provide strong bounds on the compositeness scale complementary to the traditional EWPT and Higgs couplings deviations. In many cases a relatively light scalar can be on the verge of discovery as a first sign of new physics.

A bstract We present a phenomenological theory of scalar particles that transform as a sextet and an octet of QCD interactions. These particles may arise as light bound states of a fundamental dynamics giving rise to a composite Higgs boson and partial compositeness for the top. As a concrete example, we discuss an explicit UV completion based on the SU(4)/Sp(4) coset, where QCD colour is carried by additional fundamental fermions charged under the confining gauge group. Top partners, as well as potentially even lighter coloured scalars, arise as bound states of the coloured fermions. We study production and detection at LHC Run I and II of the octet and sextet, setting lower limits on masses and couplings to Standard Model particles using existing 8 TeV analyses. We finally explore prospects for the ongoing 13 TeV Run II: we focus on final states with two same sign leptons, that have the potential to discriminate the sextet.

We study the possibility of observing a light pseudo-scalar a at LHCb. We target the mass region 2.5GeV≲ma≲60GeV and various decay channels, some of which have never been considered before: muon pairs, tau pairs, D meson pairs, and di-photon. We interpret the results in the context of models of 4D Composite Higgs and Partial Compositeness in particular.

A bstract The top quark can be naturally singled out from other fermions in the Standard Model due to its large mass, of the order of the electroweak scale. We follow this reasoning in models of pseudo Nambu Goldstone Boson composite Higgs, which may derive from an underlying confining dynamics. We consider a new class of flavour models, where the top quark obtains its mass via partial compositeness, while the lighter fermions acquire their masses by a deformation of the dynamics generated at a high flavour scale. One interesting feature of such scenario is that it can avoid all the flavour constraints without the need of flavour symmetries, since the flavour scale can be pushed high enough. We show that both flavour conserving and violating constraints can be satisfied with top partial compositeness without invoking any flavour symmetry for the up-type sector, in the case of the minimal SO(5)/SO(4) coset with top partners in the four-plet and singlet of SO(4). In the down-type sector, some degree of alignment is required if all down-type quarks are elementary. We show that taking the bottom quark partially composite provides a dynamical explanation for the hierarchy causing this alignment. We present explicit realisations of this mechanism which do not require to include additional bottom partner fields. Finally, these conclusions are generalised to scenarios with non-minimal cosets and top partners in larger representations.

A bstract We study the phenomenological implications of a large degree of compositeness for the light generation quarks in composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone-boson Higgs models. We focus in particular on phenomenologically viable scenarios where the right-handed up-type quarks have a sizable mixing with the strong dynamics. For concreteness we assume the latter to be characterized by an SO(5)/SO(4) symmetry with fermionic resonances in the SO(4) singlet and fourplet representations. Singlet partners dominantly decay to a Higgs boson and jets. Since no dedicated searches are currently looking for these final states, singlet partners can still be rather light. Conversely, some fourplet partner components dominantly decay to an electroweak gauge boson and a jet, a type of signature which has been analysed at the LHC. We have reinterpreted various ATLAS and CMS analyses in order to constrain the parameter space of this class of models. In the limit of first two generation degeneracy, as in minimal flavor violation or U(2)-symmetric flavor models, fourplet partners need to be relatively heavy, with masses above 1.8 TeV, or the level of compositeness needs to be rather small. The situation is significantly different in models which deviate from the first two generation degeneracy paradigm, as charm quark parton distribution functions are suppressed relative to the up quark ones. We find that the right-handed charm quark component can be mostly composite together with their partners being as light as 600 GeV, while the right-handed up quark needs either to be mostly elementary or to have partners as heavy as 2 TeV. Models where right-handed up-type quarks are fully composite fermions are also analysed and yield qualitatively similar conclusions. Finally, we consider the case where both the fourplet and the singlet states are present. We demonstrate that in this case the fourplet bounds could be significantly weaken due to a combination of smaller production rates and the opening of new channels including cascade processes.

Higgs sectors extended by electroweakly charged scalars can be explored by scalar pair production at the LHC. We consider a fermiophobic scenario, with decays into a pair of gauge bosons, and a fermiophilic one, with decays into top and bottom quarks. After establishing the current bounds on simplified models, we focus on an SU(5)/SO(5) composite Higgs model. This first exploration demonstrates the need for dedicated searches at current and future colliders.

A composite Higgs boson is likely to be accompanied by additional light states generated by the same dynamics. This expectation is substantiated when realising the composite Higgs mechanism by an underlying gauge theory. We review the dynamics of such objects, which may well be the first sign of compositeness at colliders. We also update our previous analysis of the bounds from LHC searches to the latest results, and discuss the projected reach of the High-Luminosity run.