ANUBIS: Proposal to search for long-lived neutral particles in CERN service shafts

TL;DR

This paper proposes using CERN service shafts with tracking stations to significantly improve the detection sensitivity for long-lived neutral particles with masses above 1 GeV, extending lifetime reach by 2-3 orders of magnitude.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detector setup in existing CERN infrastructure to enhance sensitivity to long-lived particles, surpassing current experimental capabilities.

Findings

Lifetime sensitivity increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude.

Detector design and cost projections provided.

Abstract

Long-lived particles are predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model and have been gaining interest in recent years. In this Letter we present a competitive proposal that substantially extends the sensitivity in lifetime by instrumenting the existing service shafts above the ATLAS or CMS experiments with tracking stations. For scenarios with electrically neutral long-lived particles with $m \gtrsim 1$~GeV, the lifetime reach is increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude compared to currently operating and approved future experiments at the LHC. A detector design proposal is outlined along with projected costs.