Photon-jet events as a probe of axion-like particles at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method using photon-jet algorithms to detect light axion-like particles at the LHC, extending the mass range and surpassing previous experimental limits.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to probe MeV to GeV ALPs via ALP-strahlung at the LHC, improving sensitivity over existing methods.

Findings

Probes ALP mass range 0.3 GeV to 10 GeV beyond previous limits.

Uses photon-jet algorithm to identify ALP decay signatures.

Achieves sensitivity with 3000 fb$^{-1}$ at 14 TeV LHC.

Abstract

Axion-like particles (ALPs) are predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model (SM). When ALP mass lies in the range of MeV to GeV, the cosmology and astrophysics will be largely irrelevant. In this work, we investigate such light ALPs through the ALP-strahlung process $pp \to V a (\to \gamma\gamma)$ at the 14 TeV LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$ (HL-LHC). With the photon-jet algorithm, we demonstrate that our approach can probe the mass range of ALPs, which is inaccessible to previous LHC experiments. The obtained result can surpass the existing limits on ALP-photon coupling in the ALP mass range from 0.3 GeV to 10 GeV.