Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pt spectrum from proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

TL;DR

This paper searches for signs of jet extinction at the LHC, testing a model predicting suppression of high-energy jet production due to strong gravity effects, and finds no evidence for such suppression up to 3.3 TeV.

Contribution

First experimental search for jet extinction at the LHC, setting limits on the extinction mass scale based on CMS data at 8 TeV.

Findings

No significant jet suppression observed at high transverse momentum.

Set a 95% CL lower limit of 3.3 TeV on the extinction mass scale.

Results constrain models of strong gravity and string theory effects.

Abstract

The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale.