1 Physics Department, Theoretical Particle Physics & Cosmology Group, King's College, London, United Kingdom.
2 International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.
3 Formerly at School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
4 IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
5 IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Valencia, Spain.
6 Institute of Space Science, Bucharest, Magurele, Romania.
7 Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
8 INFN, Section of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
9 Physics Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
10 Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
11 Formerly at Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, New York, New York, USA.
12 Department of Physics, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
13 Physics Department, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
14 Department of Earth Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.
15 Beams Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
16 Section de Physique, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland.
17 Physics Department, Gangneung-Wonju National University, Gangneung, Republic of Korea.
18 Physics Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
19 Département de physique, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
20 INFN, Section of Bologna & Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
21 Physics Department, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
22 The Institute for Research in Schools, Canterbury, United Kingdom.
23 Department of Physics, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
24 Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics and Geophysics, Algiers, Algeria.
25 Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
26 Formerly at Department of Physics and Applied Physics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
27 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA.
28 Physics Department, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
29 INFN, CNAF, Bologna, Italy.
30 Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
31 Physics Department, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.

Search for Magnetic Monopoles with the MoEDAL Forward Trapping Detector in 13 TeV Proton-Proton Collisions at the LHC.

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Feb 10;118(6):061801

Authors: Acharya B, Alexandre J, Baines S, Benes P, Bergmann B, Bernabéu J, Branzas H, Campbell M, Caramete L, Cecchini S, de Montigny M, De Roeck A, Ellis JR, Fairbairn M, Felea D, Flores J, Frank M, Frekers D, Garcia C, Hirt AM, Janecek J, Kalliokoski M, Katre A, Kim DW, Kinoshita K, Korzenev A, Lacarrère DH, Lee SC, Leroy C, Lionti A, Mamuzic J, Margiotta A, Mauri N, Mavromatos NE, Mermod P, Mitsou VA, Orava R, Parker B, Pasqualini L, Patrizii L, Pavalas GE, Pinfold JL, Popa V, Pozzato M, Pospisil S, Rajantie A, Ruiz de Austri R, Sahnoun Z, Sakellariadou M, Sarkar S, Semenoff G, Shaa A, Sirri G, Sliwa K, Soluk R, Spurio M, Srivastava YN, Suk M, Swain J, Tenti M, Togo V, Tuszynski JA, Vento V, Vives O, Vykydal Z, Whyntie T, Widom A, Willems G, Yoon JH, Zgura IS, MoEDAL Collaboration

Abstract

MoEDAL is designed to identify new physics in the form of long-lived highly ionizing particles produced in high-energy LHC collisions. Its arrays of plastic nuclear-track detectors and aluminium trapping volumes provide two independent passive detection techniques. We present here the results of a first search for magnetic monopole production in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions using the trapping technique, extending a previous publication with 8 TeV data during LHC Run 1. A total of 222 kg of MoEDAL trapping detector samples was exposed in the forward region and analyzed by searching for induced persistent currents after passage through a superconducting magnetometer. Magnetic charges exceeding half the Dirac charge are excluded in all samples and limits are placed for the first time on the production of magnetic monopoles in 13 TeV pp collisions. The search probes mass ranges previously inaccessible to collider experiments for up to five times the Dirac charge.

PMID: 28234515 [PubMed]