# Search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

## TL;DR

This paper reports a search for heavy, long-lived multi-charged particles in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector, setting new mass limits and excluding particles up to nearly 1.2 TeV.

## Contribution

First search for long-lived multi-charged particles at 13 TeV with ATLAS, establishing new mass exclusion limits for charges from 2e to 7e.

## Key findings

- No candidate events observed.
- Excluded multi-charged particles with masses up to 1.2 TeV.
- Set 95% confidence level cross-section upper limits.

## Abstract

A search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles is performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data with an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ collected in 2015 and 2016 from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV are examined. Particles producing anomalously high ionization, consistent with long-lived massive particles with electric charges from |q|=2e to |q|=7e, are searched for. No events are observed, and 95% confidence level cross-section upper limits are interpreted as lower mass limits for a Drell-Yan production model. Multi-charged particles with masses between 50 GeV and 980-1220 GeV (depending on their electric charge) are excluded.