Bosonic supersymmetry? Getting fooled at the CERN LHC

Abstract

We define a minimal model with universal extra dimensions, and begin to study its phenomenology. The collider signals of the first Kaluza-Klein (KK) level are surprisingly similar to those of a supersymmetric model with a nearly degenerate superpartner spectrum. The lightest KK particle (LKP) is neutral and stable because of KK parity. KK excitations cascade decay to the LKP yielding missing energy signatures with relatively soft jets and leptons. Level 2 KK modes may also be probed via their KK number violating decays to standard model particles. In either case we provide initial estimates for the discovery potential of the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron Collider.