Search for low-scale gravity signatures in multi-jet final states with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV

TL;DR

This paper searches for signs of low-scale gravity in multi-jet events at the LHC using ATLAS data, setting limits on new physics models like black holes and string balls with no observed excess.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive limits on low-scale gravity signatures in multi-jet final states at 8 TeV, constraining black hole and string ball production models.

Findings

No excess events observed beyond Standard Model expectations.

Upper limits on cross-section times acceptance as low as 0.16 fb.

Lower mass limits on black hole and string ball production range from 4.6 to 6.2 TeV.

Abstract

We search for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model in the production of final states with multiple high transverse momentum jets, using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV. No excess of events beyond Standard Model expectations is observed, and upper limits on the visible cross-section for non-Standard Model production of multi-jet final states are set. Using a wide variety of models for black hole and string ball production and decay, the limit on the cross-section times acceptance is as low as 0.16 fb at the 95% CL for a minimum scalar sum of jet transverse momentum in the event of about 4.3 TeV. Using models for black hole and string ball production and decay, exclusion contours are determined as a function of the production mass threshold and the gravity scale. These limits can be interpreted in terms of lower-mass limits on black hole and string ball production that range from 4.6 to 6.2 TeV.