Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL forward trapping detector in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper reports the first search for magnetic monopoles in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC using MoEDAL's trapping detector, setting new limits on monopole production and extending mass range sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search for magnetic monopoles at 13 TeV using the trapping technique, improving previous limits and exploring higher mass ranges.

Findings

Excluded magnetic charges above half the Dirac charge.

Set limits on magnetic monopole production at 13 TeV.

Probed mass ranges up to five times the Dirac charge.

Abstract

MoEDAL is designed to identify new physics in the form of long-lived highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy LHC collisions. Its arrays of plastic nuclear-track detectors and aluminium trapping volumes provide two independent passive detection techniques. We present here the results of a first search for magnetic monopole production in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions using the trapping technique, extending a previous publication with 8 TeV data during LHC run-1. A total of 222 kg of MoEDAL trapping detector samples was exposed in the forward region and analysed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges exceeding half the Dirac charge are excluded in all samples and limits are placed for the first time on the production of magnetic monopoles in 13 TeV $pp$ collisions. The search probes mass ranges previously inaccessible to collider experiments for up to five times the Dirac charge.