Abstract:

The smoking gun signals for new physics at the LHC elude us. What gaps remain under the lamppost? Where do we focus our next searches? This talk addresses these questions using two case studies, where naturalness and WIMP dark matter expectations highlight key targets in supersymmetry. First, a theoretical survey sharpens the inverse problem of how collider sensitivity optimised for simplified models maps to more realistic supersymmetric scenarios across a 19-dimensional parameter space. Second, an experimental search reconstructs leptons down to 4 GeV, among the lowest in ATLAS, to surpass LEP sensitivity for partners of Higgs bosons and charged leptons for the first time in nearly 20 years, identifying striking blind spots for future efforts.