SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 097 (2022) ·
published 13 July 2022
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· pdf
The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) was proposed as the next energy-frontier
infrastructure at CERN, to study e$^+$e$^-$ collisions at three centre-of-mass
energy stages: 380 GeV, 1.5 TeV and 3 TeV. The main goal of its high-energy
stages is to search for the new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The
Inert Doublet Model (IDM) is one of the simplest SM extensions and introduces
four new scalar particles: H$^\pm$, A and H; the lightest, H, is stable and
hence a natural dark matter (DM) candidate. A set of benchmark points is
considered, which are consistent with current theoretical and experimental
constraints and promise detectable signals at future colliders. Prospects for
observing pair-production of the IDM scalars at CLIC were previously studied
using signatures with two leptons in the final state. In the current study,
discovery reach for the IDM charged scalar pair-production is considered for
the semi-leptonic final state at the two high-energy CLIC stages. Full
simulation analysis, based on the current CLIC detector model, is presented for
five selected IDM scenarios. Results are then extended to the larger set of
benchmarks using the Delphes fast simulation framework. The CLIC detector model
for Delphes has been modified to take pile-up contribution from the
beam-induced $\gamma\gamma$ interactions into account, which is crucial for the
presented analysis. Results of the study indicate that heavy, charged IDM
scalars can be discovered at CLIC for most of the proposed benchmark scenarios,
with very high statistical significance.
