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New Physics Searches with Heavy-Ion Collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

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New Physics Searches with Heavy-Ion Collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider New physics searches with heavy-ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider Roderik Bruce1, David d’Enterria∗2, Albert de Roeck2, Marco Drewes3, Glennys R. Farrar4, Andrea Giammanco3, Oliver Gould5, Jan Hajer3, Lucian Harland-Lang6, Jan Heisig3, John M. Jowett1, Sonia Kabana†7, Georgios K. Krintiras‡3, Michael Korsmeier8,9,10, Michele Lucente3, Guilherme Milhano11,12, Swagata Mukherjee13, Jeremi Niedziela2, Vitalii A. Okorokov14, Arttu Rajantie15, and Michaela Schaumann1 1CERN, BE Department, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland 2CERN, EP Department, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland 3Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium 4Centre for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, NY, NY 10003, USA 5Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, FI-00014, Finland 6Rudolf Peierls Centre, Beecroft Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK 7Department of Physics, University of Nantes, and SUBATECH, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44307 Nantes, France 8Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany 9Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy 10Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Torino, Italy 11LIP, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 2, P-1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal 12Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal 13III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany 14National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Moscow, Russia 15Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK December 18, 2018 Abstract This document summarises proposed searches for new physics accessible in the heavy-ion mode at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), both through hadronic and ultraperipheral γγ interactions, and that have a competitive or, even, unique discovery potential compared to standard proton- proton collision studies. Illustrative examples include searches for new particles — such as axion-like pseudoscalars, radions, magnetic monopoles, new long-lived particles, dark photons, and sexaquarks as dark matter candidates — as well as new interactions, such as non-linear or non-commutative QED extensions. We argue that such interesting possibilities constitute a well-justified scientific motivation, complementing standard quark-gluon-plasma physics studies, to continue running with ions at the LHC after the Run-4, i.e., beyond 2030, including light and intermediate-mass ion species, accumulating nucleon-nucleon integrated luminosities in the accessible fb−1 range per month. arXiv:1812.07688v2 [hep-ph] 16 Jun 2020 ∗Corresponding author: david.d’[email protected] †Current address: Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Casilla 7D, Arica, Chile. ‡Current address: Univ. of Kansas, Dept. Physics & Astronomy, 1251 Wescoe Hall Dr., Lawrence, KS 66045-7582, USA Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Accelerator considerations2 3 Ultraperipheral γγ collisions4 3.1 Axion-like particles . .5 3.2 Born-Infeld non-linear QED, non-commutative QED . .5 3.3 Other BSM particles . .6 4 Strong electromagnetic fields6 4.1 Magnetic monopoles . .6 5 Hard scattering processes7 5.1 Long-lived particles . .7 5.2 Dark photons . .8 6 Thermal processes 9 6.1 Sexaquarks . .9 6.2 Magnetic monopoles . 10 6.3 Other new physics searches in the QGP . 10 7 HI input for new physics searches with cosmic rays 10 7.1 Astrophysical DM searches . 11 7.2 Anomalies in ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray showers . 11 8 Summary 11 1 Introduction Physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) is necessary in order to explain numerous unsolved empirical and theoretical problems in high energy physics (see e.g. [1] for a recent review). Prominent examples among them are the nature of dark matter (DM), the origin of matter-antimatter asymmetry (baryogenesis), and finite neutrino masses, on the one hand, as well as the Higgs mass fine-tuning, the null θQCD Charge-Parity (CP) violation term in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the origin of fermion families and mixings, charge quantisation, the cosmological constant, and a consistent description of quantum gravity, on the other hand. Most solutions to these problems require new particles — such as supersymmetric partners, dark photons, right-handed neutrinos, axions, monopoles — and/or new interactions, which have so far evaded observation due to their large masses and/or their small couplings to SM particles. Two common complementary routes are followed at colliders in order to search for beyond Standard Model (BSM)√ physics. If BSM appears at high masses, one needs to maximise the center-of-mass (c.m.) energy s. If BSM involves small couplings, one needs to maximise the luminosity L. At face value, both strategies present obvious drawbacks for searches in heavy-ion (HI) compared to pp collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): (i) PbPb collisions run at roughly 2.5 times lower nucleon-nucleon c.m. energies than √ pp collisions ( sNN = 5.5 vs. 14 TeV), and (ii) the nucleon-nucleon luminosities are about a factor 100 2 27 −2 −1 32 −2 −1 34 −2 −1 smaller (in 2018, LNN = A × 6 · 10 cm s = 2.5 · 10 cm s for PbPb vs. Lpp = 2 · 10 cm s ). During the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) phase [2,3], whose main focus is BSM searches, the luminosity of pp collisions will be maximised, inevitably leading to a large number of overlapping collisions per bunch crossing (pileup). Pileup translates into a rising difficulty to record all interesting pp events, and thereby an unavoidable increase of the kinematical thresholds for triggers and reconstruction objects in order to reduce unwanted backgrounds. Pileup also leads to an intrinsic complication in the reconstruction of exclusive final-states (in particular neutral ones, such as X → γγ decays at not too high masses) and of displaced vertices from e.g. long-lived-particles (LLPs) that appear 1 Production mode BSM particle/interaction Remarks Axion-like particles γγ → a, ma ≈ 0.5–100 GeV Radion γγ → φ, mφ ≈ 0.5–100 GeV Ultraperipheral Born-Infeld QED via γγ → γγ anomalies Non-commutative interactions via γγ → γγ anomalies Schwinger process Magnetic monopole Only viable in HI collisions Dark photon mA0 1 GeV, advanced particle ID Hard scattering . Long-lived particles (heavy ν) mLLP . 10 GeV, improved vertexing Thermal QCD Sexaquarks DM candidate Table 1: Examples of new-physics particles and interactions accessible in searches with HI collisions at the LHC, listed by production mechanism. Indicative competitive mass ranges and/or the associated measurement advantages compared to the pp running mode are given. in many BSM scenarios. In this context, if BSM has low couplings with the SM and is “hiding well” at relatively low masses with moderately “soft” final states, HI collisions — with negligible pileup, optimal primary vertexing (thanks to the large number of primary tracks), reduced trigger thresholds (down to zero pT , in some cases), plus unique and “clean” γγ exclusive final-states in ultraperipheral 4 interactions [4] with luminosities enhanced by factors of order LPbPb(γγ)/Lpp(γγ) = Z × LPbPb/Lpp = 4.5 · 107 × (6 · 1027)/(2 · 1034) ≈ 10 — present clear advantages compared to pp. The purpose of this document is to summarise various novel BSM search possibilities accessible at the LHC in the HI mode, and thereby provide new arguments that strengthen the motivations to prolong the HI programme beyond the LHC Run-4 (i.e. after 2029). A selection of new physics (NP) searches that are competitive with (or, at least, complementary to) pp studies at the LHC are listed in Table1, and succinctly presented hereafter. This list is not comprehensive, but is representative of the type of processes that are attractive and accessible with ions from the perspective of BSM searches. After a summary of the LHC heavy-ion performance of current and future runs (Section2), the document is organised along the following four BSM production mechanisms: 1) Ultraperipheral γγ collisions (UPCs), producing, e.g., axion-like particles (ALPs), Section3. 2) “Schwinger” production through strong classical EM fields, producing, e.g., monopoles, Section4. 3) Hard scattering processes, producing, e.g., displaced signals from new LLPs, Section5. 4) Thermal production in the quark-gluon-plasma (QGP), producing, e.g., sexaquarks, Section6. Processes 1), 2), and 4) explicitly use a BSM production mechanism that is unique in HI collisions (or significantly enhanced compared to the pp mode), whereas in processes of the type 3), it is the comparatively reduced pileup backgrounds that renders HI collisions interesting. In addition, detailed studies in proton-nucleus and light-ion collisions are needed as a baseline for astrophysics BSM searches, as well as to explain several anomalies observed in ultra-high-energy cosmic ray data (Section7). 2 Accelerator considerations The nominal LHC operation schedule includes HI collisions during typically one month each year, and even when accounting for the roughly ×10 lower integrated running time than pp, several BSM searches appear more competitive with ions than with protons as shown below. The performance of the HI runs up until the end of Run-2 has been very good, reaching instantaneous PbPb luminosities six times higher than the 27 −2 −1 32 −2 −1 design value of 10 cm s (equivalent to a nucleon-nucleon luminosity of LNN = 2.5 · 10 cm s ). Four LHC experiments are now taking data with HI collisions, and physics runs have also been carried out with a novel mode
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