Search for heavy, long-lived, charged particles with large ionisation energy loss in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV using the ATLAS experiment and the full Run 2 dataset

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics Vol. 2023; no. 6; p. 158
• Main Authors: Castro, Nuno Filipe, Onofre, A., ATLAS Collaboration
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer 2023; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Beyond Standard Model; Charged particles; Ciências Físicas; Ciências Naturais; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Collaboration; Collisions; Datasets; Elementary Particles; Exotics; Fysik; Hadron-Hadron Scattering; Hadrons; High energy physics; Ionization; Large Hadron Collider; Lifetime; Luminosity; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Physical Sciences; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Protons; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Experimental Physics; Relativity Theory; Sensors; String Theory; Subatomic Physics; Subatomär fysik; Supersymmetry; Tracking systems; Supersymmetry; Hadron-Hadron Scattering; Beyond Standard Model; Exotics
• ISSN: 1126-6708; 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/jhep06(2023)158

This paper presents a search for hypothetical massive, charged, long-lived particles with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at s = 13 TeV. These particles are expected to move significantly slower than the speed of light and should be identifiable by their high transverse momenta and anomalously large specific ionisation losses, dE/dx. Trajectories reconstructed solely by the inner tracking system and a dE/dx measurement in the pixel detector layers provide sensitivity to particles with lifetimes down to O (1) ns with a mass, measured using the Bethe–Bloch relation, ranging from 100 GeV to 3 TeV. Interpretations for pair-production of R-hadrons, charginos and staus in scenarios of supersymmetry compatible with these particles being long-lived are presented, with mass limits extending considerably beyond those from previous searches in broad ranges of lifetime. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] NSF -National Science Foundation(IN2P3-CNRS)