# Some Aspects of Higgs Physics and WIMP Dark Matter

Wang, Xing (2019) Some Aspects of Higgs Physics and WIMP Dark Matter. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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## Abstract

The discovery of the Higgs boson at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012 has filled in the last missing piece of the Standard Model (SM). Yet we would like to know where the next physics scale above the electroweak scale lies. In this thesis, I focus on two directions to search for possible new physics beyond the SM: the Higgs boson and the dark matter.
As the recently discovered Higgs boson may serve as a lamppost for new physics search, it is of great importance to scrutinize its properties and look for possible deviations from the SM. In particular, we study the Higgs boson rare decays to a pair of fermions associated with a photon and its observability at the LHC, and exploit $h\rightarrow c\bar{c}\gamma$ to probe the charm-quark Yukawa coupling.
On the other hand, the existence of the dark matter has been well-established via many astronomical observations, in spite of its unknown particle origin. The TeV scale naturally appears if we assume that the correct dark matter abundance is achieved via thermal freeze-out with interaction strength of electroweak force, which is known as the WIMP miracle''. It is crucial to search for such dark matter particles at the colliders. Future high-energy colliders provide excellent environments not only for discovering such particles but also for examining its properties such as spin and coupling structure. We study the search strategies and the observability of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) with compressed spectra at the future colliders, and exploit single-photon
processes and antler-topology processes to determine not only the spins but also the coupling structures at future high-energy $e^+e^-$ colliders.

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## Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
Wang, Xingxiw77@pitt.eduxiw77
ETD Committee:
Committee ChairHan, Taothan@pitt.edu
Committee MemberHong, Tae Mintmhong@pitt.edu
Committee MemberKosowsky, Arthurkosowsky@pitt.edu
Committee MemberRothstein, Iraizr@andrew.cmu.edu
Date: 27 September 2019
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 1 May 2019
Approval Date: 27 September 2019
Submission Date: 16 May 2019
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 225
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Physics
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Collider Phenomenology, Higgs, Dark Matter, WIMP
Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2019 17:43
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/36740