Search for Highly-Ionizing Particles in pp Collisions at the LHC's Run-1 Using the Prototype MoEDAL Detector

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for highly-ionizing particles like magnetic monopoles and HECOs in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV using the MoEDAL detector, setting new mass and charge constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search using MoEDAL's prototype detectors during LHC Run-1, providing new limits on monopoles and HECOs based on collision data.

Findings

Constraints on magnetic monopoles with charges 1-4gD and masses up to 1 TeV/c^2.

Mass limits on HECOs with charges 10e to 180e and masses between 30 GeV/c^2 and 1 TeV/c^2.

No detection of highly-ionizing particles within the explored parameter space.

Abstract

A search for highly electrically charged objects (HECOs) and magnetic monopoles is presented using 2.2 fb-1 of p - p collision data taken at a centre of mass energy (ECM) of 8 TeV by the MoEDAL detector during LHC's Run-1. The data were collected using MoEDAL's prototype Nuclear Track Detector array and the Trapping Detector array. The results are interpreted in terms of Drell-Yan pair production of stable HECO and monopole pairs with three spin hypotheses (0, 1/2 and 1). The search provides constraints on the direct production of magnetic monopoles carrying one to four Dirac magnetic charges (4gD) and with mass limits ranging from 590 GeV/c^2 to 1 TeV/c^2. Additionally, mass limits are placed on HECOs with charge in the range 10e to 180e, where e is the charge of an electron, for masses between 30 GeV/c^2 and 1 TeV/c^2.