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Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC

Journal of High Energy Physics volume 2016, Article number: 67 (2016) Cite this article

A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv.

Abstract

The MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nucleartrack detectors with surface area ~18m2, sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb–1. No magnetic charge exceeding 0:5g D (where g D is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV≤ m ≤ 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1g D ≤ |g| ≤ 6g D, and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1g D ≤ |g| ≤ 4g D. Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for |g| = 2g D and |g| = 3g D for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, Physics Dept., King’s College London, London, UK

    B. Acharya, J. Alexandre, J. R. Ellis, M. Fairbairn, N. E. Mavromatos, M. Sakellariadou & S. Sarkar

  2. International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

    B. Acharya

  3. IFIC, Universitat de València — CSIC, Valencia, Spain

    J. Bernabéu, C. Garcia, M. G. L. King, V. A. Mitsou, V. Vento & O. Vives

  4. Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

    M. Campbell, A. De Roeck & D.H. Lacarrère

  5. Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

    J. R. Ellis

  6. Beams Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

    M. Kalliokoski

  7. INFN, section of Bologna & Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    G. Giacomelli, A. Margiotta, L. Pasqualini & M. Spurio

  8. Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow, Poland

    J. Chwastowski, D. Derendarz, R. Staszewski & M. Trzebinski

  9. Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    M. de Montigny, J. L. Pinfold, R. Soluk & J. A. Tuszynski

  10. Institute of Space Science, Bucharest — Măgurele, Romania

    D. Felea, G. E. Păvălas & V. Popa

  11. Department of Physics, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    M. Frank & D. Hasegan

  12. Département de physique, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

    C. Leroy

  13. Physics Department, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany

    D. Frekers & G. Willems

  14. IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    P. Benes, M. Platkevič, S. Pospisil, M. Suk & Z. Vykydal

  15. Section de Physique, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

    A. Chatterjee, A. Katre, A. Lionti & P. Mermod

  16. Physics Department, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Gangneung, South Korea

    D.-W. Kim & S. C. Lee

  17. Physics Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    K. Kinoshita

  18. Physics Department, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    R. Orava

  19. Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, UK

    A. Rajantie

  20. Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geophysics, Algiers, Algeria

    Z. Sahnoun

  21. Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    G. Semenoff

  22. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA

    K. Sliwa

  23. Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Y. N. Srivastava, J. Swain & A. Widom

  24. Physics Department, Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea

    J. H. Yoon

  25. Physics Department, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    K. Bendtz & D. Milstead

  26. INFN, section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    S. Cecchini, N. Mauri, L. Patrizii, M. Pozzato, Z. Sahnoun, G. Sirri & V. Togo

  27. INFN, CNAF, Bologna, Italy

    M. Tenti

  28. The Institute for Research in Schools, Canterbury, England

    B. Parker & T. Whyntie

  29. Queen Mary University of London, London, England

    T. Whyntie

Authors
  1. B. Acharya
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  2. J. Alexandre
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  3. K. Bendtz
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  4. P. Benes
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  5. J. Bernabéu
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  6. M. Campbell
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  7. S. Cecchini
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  8. J. Chwastowski
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  18. C. Garcia
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  19. G. Giacomelli
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  32. N. E. Mavromatos
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  33. P. Mermod
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  35. V. A. Mitsou
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  37. B. Parker
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  38. L. Pasqualini
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  39. L. Patrizii
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  40. G. E. Păvălas
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  41. J. L. Pinfold
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  42. M. Platkevič
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  43. V. Popa
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  44. M. Pozzato
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  46. A. Rajantie
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  47. Z. Sahnoun
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  48. M. Sakellariadou
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  49. S. Sarkar
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  50. G. Semenoff
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  51. G. Sirri
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  53. R. Soluk
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  54. M. Spurio
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  55. Y. N. Srivastava
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  56. R. Staszewski
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  57. M. Suk
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  58. J. Swain
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  59. M. Tenti
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  60. V. Togo
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  62. J. A. Tuszynski
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  63. V. Vento
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  66. T. Whyntie
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  67. A. Widom
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  68. G. Willems
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  69. J. H. Yoon
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Consortia

The MoEDAL collaboration

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Mermod.

Additional information

ArXiv ePrint: 1604.06645

Associate member. (K. Bendtz, D. Milstead)

Now deceased (G. Giacomelli)

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Giorgio Giacomelli, a pioneer and leader in the quest for the Magnetic Monopole.

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The MoEDAL collaboration., Acharya, B., Alexandre, J. et al. Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC. J. High Energ. Phys. 2016, 67 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2016)067

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2016)067

Keywords

  • Exotics
  • Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments)
  • Particle and resonance production