Time-delayed electrons from neutral currents at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores detecting long-lived particles from neutral currents at the LHC using timing detectors, focusing on specific models like supersymmetry and $U(1)$ extensions, and demonstrates the potential of timing-based searches to complement existing methods.

Contribution

It introduces a novel timing-based search strategy for long-lived particles at the LHC, analyzing its effectiveness in probing models with neutral current production and decay.

Findings

Timing trigger enhances LLP detection sensitivity.

Strategy probes parameter space beyond traditional displaced vertex searches.

Potential to discover or constrain new physics models at HL-LHC.

Abstract

We investigate long-lived particles (LLPs) produced in pair from neutral currents and decaying into a displaced electron plus two jets at the LHC, utilizing the proposed minimum ionizing particle timing detector at CMS. We study two benchmark models: the R-parity-violating supersymmetry with the lightest neutralinos being the lightest supersymmetric particle and two different $U(1)$ extensions of the standard model with heavy neutral leptons (HNLs). The light neutralinos are produced from the standard model $Z$-boson decays via small Higgsino components, and the HNLs arise from decays of a heavy gauge boson, $Z'$. By simulating the signal processes at the HL-LHC with the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=$ 14 TeV and integrated luminosity of 3 ab$^{-1}$, our analyses indicate that the search strategy based on a timing trigger and the final state kinematics has the potential to probe the parameter space that is complementary to other traditional LLP search strategies such as those based on the displaced vertex.