Probing BSM physics with electron-proton colliders

TL;DR

Electron-proton colliders offer unique advantages in probing long-lived particles and BSM physics, especially in scenarios where proton-proton colliders face challenges due to hadronic backgrounds.

Contribution

This paper highlights the potential of electron-proton colliders to explore BSM physics and long-lived particles, demonstrating their competitiveness with proton-proton colliders in specific lifetime ranges.

Findings

e-p colliders can effectively probe long-lived particles with lifetimes between a millimeter and a micron.

They can be competitive with proton-proton colliders for certain BSM scenarios.

e-p colliders provide cleaner signals due to reduced hadronic backgrounds.

Abstract

In this talk I will illustrate with two examples (Higgsino dark matter and Exotic Higgs decays) how electron-proton colliders present unique opportunities to probe BSM scenarios where proton-proton colliders fall short due to the experimental difficulties in reconstructing the signal due to the large hadronic backgrounds. The leit-motiv of these examples are long-lived particles (LLPs), which have received recently a lot of attention from both the experimental and theoretical communities. We find that the proposed $e^-p$ colliders can be competitive against their more energetic $pp$ incarnations for lifetimes between a millimeter and a micron, depending on the physics scenario under consideration.