Abstract
Phys. Rev. D 89, 055020 (2014) Direct searches for electroweak pair production of new particles at the LHC
are a difficult proposition, due to the large background and low signal cross
sections. We demonstrate how these searches can be improved by a combination of
new razor variables and shape analysis of signal and background kinematics. We
assume that the pair-produced particles decay to charged leptons and missing
energy, either directly or through a W boson. In both cases the final state is
a pair of opposite sign leptons plus missing transverse energy. We estimate
exclusion reach in terms of sleptons and charginos as realized in minimal
supersymmetry. We compare this super-razor approach in detail to analyses based
on other kinematic variables, showing how the super-razor uses more of the
relevant kinematic information while achieving higher selection efficiency on
signals, including cases with compressed spectra.