Search for Scalar Charm Quark Pair Production in pp Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS Detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for pair production of scalar charm quarks in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector, setting exclusion limits on their masses in a supersymmetric model.

Contribution

It introduces a dedicated search method for scalar charm quarks with c-jet tagging and provides new exclusion limits in the minimal supersymmetric scenario.

Findings

Excluded scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV for neutralino masses below 200 GeV.

Used 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data from pp collisions at 8 TeV.

Set 95% confidence level upper limits on scalar-charm production.

Abstract

The results of a dedicated search for pair production of scalar partners of charm quarks are reported. The search is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets, where the two leading jets are each tagged as originating from c-quarks. Events containing isolated electrons or muons are vetoed. In an R-parity-conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario in which a single scalar-charm state is kinematically accessible, and where it decays exclusively into a charm quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the scalar-charm-neutralino mass plane such that, for neutralino masses below 200 GeV, scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV are excluded.