Prospects of searches for long-lived charged particles with MoEDAL

We study the prospects of searches for exotic long-lived particles with the MoEDAL detector at the LHC, assuming the integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$ that is expected at the end of Run 3. MoEDAL incorporates nuclear track detectors deployed a few metres away from the interaction point, which are sensitive to any highly-ionizing particles. Hence MoEDAL is able to detect singly- or doubly-charged particles with low velocities $\beta < 0.15$ or $< 0.3$, respectively, and lifetimes larger than ${\cal O}(1) \,{\rm m}/c$. We examine the MoEDAL sensitivity to various singly-charged supersymmetric particles with long lifetimes and to several types of doubly-charged long-lived particles with different spins and SU(2) charges. We compare the prospective MoEDAL mass reaches to current limits from ATLAS and CMS, which involve auxiliary analysis assumptions. MoEDAL searches for doubly-charged fermions are particularly competitive.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Search for Magnetic Monopoles with the MoEDAL Forward Trapping Detector in 13 TeV Proton-Proton Collisions at the LHC

MoEDAL is designed to identify new physics in the form of long-lived highly ionizing particles produced in high-energy LHC collisions. Its arrays of plastic nuclear-track detectors and aluminium trapping volumes provide two independent passive detection techniques. We present here the results of a first search for magnetic monopole production in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions using the trapping technique, extending a previous publication with 8 TeV data during LHC Run 1. A total of 222 kg of MoEDAL trapping detector samples was exposed in the forward region and analyzed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges exceeding half the Dirac charge are excluded in all samples and limits are placed for the first time on the production of magnetic monopoles in 13 TeV pp collisions. The search probes mass ranges previously inaccessible to collider experiments for up to five times the Dirac charge.Peer reviewe

Magnetic Monopole Search with the Full MoEDAL Trapping Detector in 13 TeV pp Collisions Interpreted in Photon-Fusion and Drell-Yan Production

MoEDAL is designed to identify new physics in the form of stable or pseudostable highly ionizing particles produced in high-energy Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collisions. Here we update our previous search for magnetic monopoles in Run 2 using the full trapping detector with almost four times more material and almost twice more integrated luminosity. For the first time at the LHC, the data were interpreted in terms of photon-fusion monopole direct production in addition to the Drell-Yan-like mechanism. The MoEDAL trapping detector, consisting of 794 kg of aluminum samples installed in the forward and lateral regions, was exposed to 4.0 fb(-1) of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHCb interaction point and analyzed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges equal to or above the Dirac charge are excluded in all samples. Monopole spins 0, 1/2, and 1 are considered and both velocity-independent and-dependent couplings are assumed. This search provides the best current laboratory constraints for monopoles with magnetic charges ranging from two to five times the Dirac charge.Peer reviewe

Prospects of searches for long-lived charged particles with MoEDAL

We study the prospects of searches for exotic long-lived particles with the MoEDAL detector at the LHC, assuming the integrated luminosity of 30 fb- 1 that is expected at the end of Run 3. MoEDAL incorporates nuclear track detectors deployed a few metres away from the interaction point, which are sensitive to any highly-ionizing particles. Hence MoEDAL is able to detect singly- or doubly-charged particles with low velocities β< 0.15 or < 0.3 , respectively, and lifetimes larger than O(1)m/c. We examine the MoEDAL sensitivity to various singly-charged supersymmetric particles with long lifetimes and to several types of doubly-charged long-lived particles with different spins and SU(2) charges. We compare the prospective MoEDAL mass reaches to current limits from ATLAS and CMS, which involve auxiliary analysis assumptions. MoEDAL searches for doubly-charged fermions are particularly competitive

Minicharged Particles at Accelerators: Progress and Prospects

Minicharged particles (mCPs), hypothetical free particles with tiny electric charges below the elementary charge, $e$, offer a valuable probe of dark sectors and fundamental physics through several clear experimental signatures. Various models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict the existence of such particles, which could help elucidate the ongoing mysteries regarding electric charge quantization and the nature of dark matter. Moreover, a hypothetical scenario involving a small minicharged subcomponent of dark matter has recently been demonstrated as a viable explanation of the anomaly in the 21 cm hydrogen absorption signal reported by the EDGES collaboration. Although several decades of indirect observations and direct experimental searches for mCPs at particle accelerators have led to severe constraints, a substantial window of the mCP mass\unicode{x2013}mixing parameter space remains unexplored at the energy frontier accessible to current state-of-the-art accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Consequently, mCPs have remained topical over the years, and new experimental searches at accelerators have been gaining interest. In this article, we review the theoretical frameworks in which mCPs emerge and their phenomenological implications, the current direct and indirect constraints on mCPs, and the present state of the ongoing and upcoming searches for mCPs at particle accelerators. Additionally, we present the results of an updated study of the projected sensitivity of the recently approved (and relocated) Phase-1 detector of the MoEDAL's Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MAPP) experiment to Drell\unicode{x2013}Yan pair-produced mCPs at the LHC's Run 3 and the future High-Luminosity LHC.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Paper accepted for publication in the European Physical Journal ST issue titled The MoEDAL-MAPP Experiment \unicode{x2014} The LHC's First Dedicated Search Experiment for BSM Physic

First Search for Dyons with the Full MoEDAL Trapping Detector in 13 TeV pp Collisions

The MoEDAL trapping detector consists of approximately 800 kg of aluminum volumes. It was exposed during run 2 of the LHC program to 6.46  fb−1 of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHCb interaction point. Evidence for dyons (particles with electric and magnetic charge) captured in the trapping detector was sought by passing the aluminum volumes comprising the detector through a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. The presence of a trapped dyon would be signaled by a persistent current induced in the SQUID magnetometer. On the basis of a Drell-Yan production model, we exclude dyons with a magnetic charge ranging up to five Dirac charges (5gD) and an electric charge up to 200 times the fundamental electric charge for mass limits in the range 870–3120 GeV and also monopoles with magnetic charge up to and including 5gD with mass limits in the range 870–2040 GeV.Peer reviewe