Focus point SUSY at the LHC revisited

The estimation of the backgrounds for gluino signals in focus point supersymmetry is extended by including the backgrounds from the production of four third generation quarks in the analysis. We find that these backgrounds are negligible if one uses the strong selection criteria proposed in the literature (including this analysis) for heavy gluino searches. Softer selection criteria often recommended for lighter gluino searches yield backgrounds that are small but numerically significant. We have also repeated the more conventional background calculations and compared our results with the other groups. We find that the size of the total residual background estimated by different groups using different event generators and hard kinematical cuts agree approximately. In view of the theoretical uncertainties in the leading order signal and background cross sections mainly due to the choice of the QCD scale, the gluino mass reach at the LHC cannot be pinpointed. However, requiring a signal with ≥3 tagged b-jets (instead of the standard choice of ≥2) it is shown that gluino masses close to 2 TeV can be probed at the LHC for a range of reasonable choices of the QCD scale for an integrated luminosity of 300 fb-1. (orig.)