The potential of CMS as a high-energy neutrino scattering experiment

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to detect high-energy neutrino scattering at the LHC using the CMS detector's high granularity calorimeter, aiming for the first direct observation of neutrinos from W decays.

Contribution

It introduces a new search strategy utilizing displaced jets in CMS HGCAL to identify neutrino interactions amidst background noise.

Findings

Background reduction achieved through cut-and-count analysis

Feasibility demonstrated for observing neutrinos from W decays

Proof-of-principle for high-energy neutrino detection at LHC

Abstract

With its enormous number of produced neutrinos the LHC is a prime facility to study the behaviour of high-energy neutrinos. In this paper we propose a novel search strategy for identifying neutrino scattering via displaced appearing jets in the high granularity calorimeter (HGCAL) of the CMS endcap in the high luminosity run of the LHC. We demonstrate in a cut-and-count based analysis how the enormous hadronic background can be reduced while keeping most of the neutrino signal. This paper serves as a proof-of-principle study to illustrate the feasibility of the first direct observation of high-energetic neutrinos coming from $W$ decays.