Status and Implications of Beyond-the-Standard-Model Searches at the LHC

Abstract

The LHC has collided protons on protons at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV between 2010 and 2012, referred to as the Run I period. We review the current status of searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model at the end of Run I by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, limited to the 8-TeV search results that have been published or submitted for publication as of the end of February 2014. We discuss some of the implications of these searches on the existence of TeV-scale new physics, with a special focus on two open questions: the hierarchy problem and the nature of dark matter. Finally, we give an outlook for the future.