Physics (Internal)

No low-hanging fruit

This event is part of the HEE Seminar Series.

The quest to find physics beyond the SM is a top priority for the LHC experiments. While no evidence for new physics has been seen thus far, analysis of the most recent data is still in progress. I will address how searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) at the LHC have evolved, from generic searches to targeted analyses focused on more difficult topologies and signatures. As an example, I will discuss a challenging search for the supersymmetric partner of the tau lepton (the tau slepton or stau) at CMS. In some scenarios, staus could be the key to explaining the observed dark matter relic density, which makes this search particularly intriguing. I will present the latest results of the CMS stau search based on part of the Run-2 data set, and indicate the future prospects for this search at the HL-LHC in light of planned detector upgrades.