Search for disappearing tracks

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for long-lived charged particles that decay inside the CMS detector, producing disappearing tracks, using 8 TeV proton-proton collision data to test supersymmetry models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search method for disappearing tracks and interprets results within supersymmetry frameworks, expanding the experimental constraints on such models.

Findings

No significant excess observed over background

Limits set on chargino masses in supersymmetry models

Enhanced understanding of long-lived particle signatures

Abstract

We present a search for long-lived charged particles that decay within the CMS detector and produce the signature of a disappearing track. Disappearing tracks are identified as those with little or no associated calorimeter energy deposits and with missing hits in the outer layers of the tracker. The search uses proton-proton collision data recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb$^{-1}$. The results of the search are interpreted in the context of the anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking model and in terms of the phenomenological MSSM.