# Magnetic monopole search with the full MoEDAL trapping detector in 13 TeV $pp$ collisions interpreted in photon-fusion and Drell-Yan production

## TL;DR

This paper reports a search for magnetic monopoles at the LHC using the MoEDAL detector, setting new constraints on monopoles with charges 2-5 times the Dirac charge through analysis of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions, including photon-fusion production.

## Contribution

First interpretation of monopole production at the LHC via photon-fusion mechanism, updating previous searches with more data and material, and setting new constraints on monopole charges.

## Key findings

- Excluded magnetic charges ≥ Dirac charge in all samples.
- Set the best current constraints for monopoles with charges 2-5 times the Dirac charge.
- Analyzed data considering monopole spins 0, 1/2, and 1.

## Abstract

MoEDAL is designed to identify new physics in the form of stable or pseudostable highly ionizing particles produced in high-energy Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collisions. Here we update our previous search for magnetic monopoles in Run 2 using the full trapping detector with almost four times more material and almost twice more integrated luminosity. For the first time at the LHC, the data were interpreted in terms of photon-fusion monopole direct production in addition to the Drell-Yan-like mechanism. The MoEDAL trapping detector, consisting of 794 kg of aluminum samples installed in the forward and lateral regions, was exposed to 4.0 fb$^{-1}$ of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHCb interaction point and analyzed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges equal to or above the Dirac charge are excluded in all samples. Monopole spins 0, 1/2 and 1 are considered and both velocity-independent and -dependent couplings are assumed. This search provides the best current laboratory constraints for monopoles with magnetic charges ranging from two to five times the Dirac charge.