Searching and identifying leptoquarks through low-energy polarized scattering processes $e^-p\to e^-\Lambda_c$

TL;DR

This paper explores how polarized low-energy electron-proton scattering processes can be used to detect and distinguish different leptoquark models, providing a promising method for new physics searches in the charm sector.

Contribution

It demonstrates that measuring spin asymmetries in polarized scattering can identify leptoquark effects and offers a detailed analysis of experimental feasibility and potential constraints.

Findings

Different LQ models can be distinguished via four spin asymmetries.

Transversely polarized processes can probe the imaginary parts of Wilson coefficients.

Future experiments can set competitive constraints on new physics.

Abstract

We investigate the potential for searching and identifying the leptoquark (LQ) effects in the charm sector through the low-energy polarized scattering processes $\vec{e}^{\,-}p\to e^-\Lambda_c$, $e^-\vec{p}\to e^-\Lambda_c$, and $\vec{e}^{\,-}\vec{p}\to e^-\Lambda_c$. Considering only the longitudinally polarized processes, we show that the different LQ models can be disentangled from each other by measuring the four spin asymmetries, $A_{L}^e$, $A_{L}^p$, $A_{L3}^{ep}$, and $A_{L6}^{ep}$, constructed in terms of the polarized cross sections. Although it is challenging to accomplish the same goal with transversely polarized processes, we find that investing them in future experiments is especially beneficial, since they can directly probe into the imaginary part of the Wilson coefficients in the general low-energy effective Lagrangian. With our properly designed experimental setups, it is also demonstrated that promising event rates can be expected for all these processes and, even in the worst-case scenario -- no LQ signals are observed at all, they can still provide a competitive potential for constraining the new physics, compared with those from the conventional charmed-hadron weak decays and the high-$p_T$ dilepton invariant mass tails at high-energy colliders.