Addressing the multi-channel inverse problem at high energy colliders: a model-independent approach to the search for new physics with trileptons

We describe a method for interpreting trilepton searches at high energy colliders in a model-independent fashion and apply it to the recent searches at the Tevatron. The key step is to recognize that the trilepton signature is comprised of four experimentally very different channels defined by the number of tau leptons in the trilepton state. Contributions from these multiple channels to the overall experimental sensitivity (cross-section times branching ratio) are model-independent and can be parametrized in terms of relevant new particle masses. Given the trileptonic branching ratios of a specific model, these experimentally obtained multi-channel sensitivities can be combined to obtain a cross-section measurement that can be used to confront the model with data. Our model-independent results are more widely applicable than the current Tevatron trilepton results which are stated exclusively in terms of mSUGRA parameters of supersymmetry. The technique presented here can be expanded beyond trilepton searches to the more general 'inverse problem' of experimentally discriminating between competing models that seek to explain new physics discovered in multiple channels.