Abstract

It is very easy to write down models with long-lived particles which decay to standard model states; usually, all that is required is an approximate symmetry, which is by definition technically natural. The LHC collaborations have already performed searches for the displaced decays of such particles, with no observed excess. The peculiarity of the signature presents two complementary challenges: how do collaborations present their results in the most model-independent way possible? and how do phenomenologists reinterpret the results in the context of their own models? I will describe a simple Monte Carlo method which has implications for both. The short message is the following: if the relevant efficiency tables are published, then phenomenologists need only take Monte Carlo events and fold in these efficiencies to reinterpret searches. I will discuss this method in the context of the simplest Higgs and vector portal models.