Probing Color Octet Electrons at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of the 14 TeV LHC to discover color octet electrons predicted by compositeness models, proposing combined production search strategies to extend the discovery reach up to 4 TeV.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combined search method for resonant production channels of color octet electrons at the LHC, enhancing the discovery potential beyond previous approaches.

Findings

LHC can probe $e_8$ masses up to 2.8 TeV with pair production.

Combined search strategy extends the reach to 4 TeV for 300 fb$^{-1}$.

The analysis demonstrates significant improvement in discovery potential using combined signals.

Abstract

Models with quark and lepton compositeness predict the existence of colored partners of the Standard Model leptons. In this paper we study the LHC phenomenology of a charged colored lepton partner, namely the color octet electron, $e_8$ in an effective theory framework. We explore various mechanisms for resonant production of $e_8$'s. With the pair production channel the 14 TeV LHC can probe $e_8$'s with masses up to 2.5 TeV (2.8 TeV) with 100 fb$^{-1}$ (300 fb$^{-1}$) of integrated luminosity. A common feature in all the resonant production channels is the presence of two high $p_T$ electrons and at least one high $p_T$ jet in the final state. Using this feature, we implement a search method where the signal is a combination of pair and single production events. This method has potential to increase the LHC reach significantly. Using the combined signal we estimate the LHC discovery potential for the $e_8$'s. Our analysis shows that the LHC with 14 TeV center-of-mass energy and 100 fb$^{-1}$ (300 fb$^{-1}$) of integrated luminosity can probe $e_8$'s with masses up to 3.4 TeV (4 TeV) for the compositeness scale of 5 TeV.