Search for: All records

A<sc>bstract</sc> We study a simple class offlavored scalarmodels, in which the couplings of a new light scalar to standard-model fermions are controlled by the flavor symmetry responsible for fermion masses and mixings. The scalar couplings are then aligned with the Yukawa matrices, with small but nonzero flavor-violating entries.D-meson decays are an important source of scalar production in these models, in contrast to models assuming minimal flavor violation, in whichBandKdecays dominate. We show that FASER2 can probe large portions of the parameter space of the models, with comparable numbers of scalars fromBandDdecays in some regions. If discovered, these particles will not only provide evidence of new physics, but they may also shed new light on the standard model flavor puzzle. Finally, the richness of theoretical models underscores the importance of model-independent interpretations. We therefore analyze the sensitivity of FASER and other experimental searches in terms of physical parameters: (i) the branching fractions of heavy mesons to the scalar, and (ii)τ/m, whereτandmare the scalar’s lifetime and mass, respectively. The results are largely independent of the new particle’s spin and can be used to extract constraints on a wide variety of models. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Proton-proton collisions at energy-frontier facilities produce an intense flux of high-energy light particles, including neutrinos, in the forward direction. At the LHC, these particles are currently being studied with the far-forward experiments FASER/FASERνand SND@LHC, while new dedicated experiments have been proposed in the context of a Forward Physics Facility (FPF) operating at the HL-LHC. Here we present a first quantitative exploration of the reach for neutrino, QCD, and BSM physics of far-forward experiments integrated within the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) project as part of its proton-proton collision program (FCC-hh) at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ $\sqrt{s}$≃ 100 TeV. We find that 10⁹electron/muon neutrinos and 10⁷tau neutrinos could be detected, an increase of several orders of magnitude compared to (HL-)LHC yields. We study the impact of neutrino DIS measurements at the FPF@FCC to constrain the unpolarised and spin partonic structure of the nucleon and assess their sensitivity to nuclear dynamics down tox∼ 10⁻⁹with neutrinos produced in proton-lead collisions. We demonstrate that the FPF@FCC could measure the neutrino charge radius forν_eandν_μand reach down to five times the SM value forν_τ. We fingerprint the BSM sensitivity of the FPF@FCC for a variety of models, including dark Higgs bosons, relaxion-type scenarios, quirks, and millicharged particles, finding that these experiments would be able to discover LLPs with masses as large as 50 GeV and couplings as small as 10⁻⁸, and quirks with masses up to 10 TeV. Our study highlights the remarkable opportunities made possible by integrating far-forward experiments into the FCC project, and it provides new motivation for the FPF at the HL-LHC as an essential precedent to optimize the forward physics experiments that will enable the FCC to achieve its full physics potential. 

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) are motivated by attempts to explain neutrino masses and dark matter. If their masses are in the MeV to several GeV range, HNLs are light enough to be copiously produced at collider and accelerator facilities, but also heavy enough to decay to visible particles on length scales that can be observed in particle detectors. Previous studies evaluating the sensitivities of experiments have often focused on simple but not particularly well-motivated models in which the HNL mixes with only one active neutrino flavor. In this work, we accurately simulate models for HNL masses between 100 MeV and 10 GeV and arbitrary couplings to $e$, $\mu$, and $\tau$leptons. We include over 150 HNL production channels and over 100 HNL decay modes, including all of the processes that can be dominant in some region of the general parameter space. The result is , a user-friendly, fast, and flexible library to compute the properties of HNL models. As examples, we implement to extend the package to evaluate the prospects for HNL discovery at forward LHC experiments. We present sensitivity reaches for FASER and FASER2 in five benchmark scenarios with coupling ratios $|U_e{|}^2:|U_{\mu }{|}^2:|U_{\tau }{|}^2=1:0:0$, $0:1:0$, $0:0:1$, $0:1:1$, and $1:1:1$, where the latter two have not been studied previously. Comparing these to current constraints, we identify regions of parameter space with significant discovery prospects. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Quirks are generic predictions of strongly-coupled dark sectors. For weak-scale masses and a broad range of confining scales in the dark sector, quirks can be discovered only at the energy frontier, but quirk-anti-quirk pairs are produced with unusual signatures at lowp_T, making them difficult to detect at the large LHC detectors. We determine the prospects for discovering quirks using timing information at FASER, FASER2, and an “ultimate detector” in the far-forward region at the LHC. NLO QCD corrections are incorporated in the simulation of quirk production, which can significantly increase the production rate. To accurately propagate quirk pairs from the ATLAS interaction point to the forward detectors, the ionization energy loss of charged quirks traveling through matter, the radiation of infracolor glueballs and QCD hadrons during quirk pair oscillations, and the annihilation of quirkonium are properly considered. The quirk signal is separated from the large muon background using timing information from scintillator detectors by requiring either two coincident delayed tracks, based on arrival times at the detector, or two coincident slow tracks, based on time differences between hits in the front and back scintillators. We find that simple cuts preserve much of the signal, but reduce the muon background to negligible levels. With the data already collected, FASER can discover quirks in currently unconstrained parameter space. FASER2, running at the Forward Physics Facility during the HL-LHC era, will greatly extend this reach, probing the TeV-scale quirk masses motivated by the gauge hierarchy problem for the broad range of dark-sector confining scales between 100 eV and 100 keV. 

WIMPs, weakly-interacting massive particles, have been leading candidates for particle dark matter for decades, and they remain a viable and highly motivated possibility. In these lectures, I describe the basic motivations for WIMPs, beginning with the WIMP miracle and its under-appreciated cousin, the discrete WIMP miracle. I then give an overview of some of the basic features of WIMPs and how to find them. These lectures conclude with some variations on the WIMP theme that have by now become significant topics in their own right and illustrate the richness of the WIMP paradigm. 

This Letter presents the measurement of the energy-dependent neutrino-nucleon cross section in tungsten and the differential flux of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $(65.6\pm 1.4){\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. Using the active electronic components of the FASER detector, $338.1\pm 21.0$charged current muon neutrino interaction events are identified, with backgrounds from other processes subtracted. We unfold the neutrino events into a fiducial volume corresponding to the sensitive regions of the FASER detector and interpret the results in two ways: (i) we use the expected neutrino flux to measure the cross section, and (ii) we use the predicted cross section to measure the neutrino flux. Both results are presented in six bins of neutrino energy, achieving the first differential measurement in the TeV range. The observed distributions align with standard model predictions. Using this differential data, we extract the contributions of neutrinos from pion and kaon decays. Published by the American Physical Society2025