Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC

• Main Authors: MoEDAL Collaboration, Acharya, B, Alexandre, J, Bendtz, K, Benes, P, Bernabéu, J, Campbell, M, Cecchini, S, Chwastowski, J, Chatterjee, A, de Montigny, M, Derendarz, D, De Roeck, A, Ellis, J. R, Fairbairn, M, Felea, D, Frank, M, Frekers, D, Garcia, C, Giacomelli, G, Haşegan, D, Kalliokoski, M, Katre, A, Kim, D. -W, King, M. G. L, Kinoshita, K, Lacarrère, D. H, Lee, S. C, Leroy, C, Lionti, A, Margiotta, A, Mauri, N, Mavromatos, N. E, Mermod, P, Milstead, D, Mitsou, V. A, Orava, R, Parker, B, Pasqualini, L, Patrizii, L, Păvălaş, G. E, Pinfold, J. L, Platkevič, M, Popa, V, Pozzato, M, Pospisil, S, Rajantie, A, Sahnoun, Z, Sakellariadou, M, Sarkar, S, Semenoff, G, Sirri, G, Sliwa, K, Soluk, R, Spurio, M, Srivastava, Y. N, Staszewski, R, Suk, M, Swain, J, Tenti, M, Togo, V, Trzebinski, M, Tuszyński, J. A, Vento, V, Vives, O, Vykydal, Z, Whyntie, T, Widom, A, Yoon, J. H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 11-07-2016
• Subjects: Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1604.06645

JHEP 08, 067 (2016) The MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other
highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The
largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC
ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique
is based on stacks of nuclear-track detectors with surface area $\sim$18 m$^2$,
sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors
are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is
based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of
aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of
trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We
present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg
prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at
the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb$^{-1}$. No magnetic charge
exceeding $0.5g_{\rm D}$ (where $g_{\rm D}$ is the Dirac magnetic charge) is
measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on
monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV$\leq m \leq$ 3500 GeV.
Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of
monopole energy and direction for $1g_{\rm D}\leq|g|\leq 6g_{\rm D}$, and
model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production
of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for $1g_{\rm D}\leq|g|\leq 4g_{\rm D}$. Under
the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for
$|g|=2g_{\rm D}$ and $|g|=3g_{\rm D}$ for the first time at the LHC, surpassing
the results from previous collider experiments.