Prospects for discovering new physics in charm sector through low-energy scattering processes $e^-p\to e^- (\mu^-)\Lambda_c$

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of low-energy electron-proton scattering experiments to discover new physics, particularly through processes involving charm quarks, which could outperform high-energy collider searches in certain models.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for using low-energy scattering processes to probe new physics in the charm sector, highlighting their advantages over traditional high-energy methods.

Findings

Low-energy scattering processes can be more sensitive to new physics than high-energy collider decays.

Promising event rates are predicted for scalar and vector leptoquark models.

A method to distinguish signals from scalar versus vector leptoquarks is proposed.

Abstract

We investigate the potential for discovering new physics through the low-energy scattering processes $e^-p\to e^-(\mu^-)\Lambda_c$, which could be accessible in the forthcoming $ep$ scattering experiments once adapted to our proposed setups. In the framework of a general low-energy effective Lagrangian, we demonstrate that, compared with the conventional flavor-changing neutral-current weak decays of charmed hadrons and the dilepton productions at high-energy colliders, the low-energy scattering processes can provide more competitive potentials for hunting the underlying new physics. In some specific leptoquark models, we also show that promising event rates can be expected for both the scattering processes, and point out a possible way to distinguish the experimental signals due to the scalar leptoquarks from those of the vector ones.