LHC tau-pair production constraints on $a_\tau$ and $d_\tau

• Published in: SciPost physics Vol. 16; no. 2; p. 048
• Main Authors: Haisch, Ulrich, Schnell, Luc, Weiss, Joachim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: SciPost 01-02-2024
• ISSN: 2542-4653; 2542-4653
• DOI: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.16.2.048

We point out that relevant constraints on the anomalous magnetic (
a_\tau
a
τ
) and electric (
d_\tau
d
τ
) moment of the tau lepton can be derived from tau-pair production measurements performed at the LHC. Our conclusion is based on the observation that the leading relative deviations from the Standard Model prediction for
pp \to \tau^+ \tau^-
p
p
→
τ
+
τ
−
due to
a_\tau
a
τ
and
d_\tau
d
τ
are enhanced at high energies. Less precise measurements at hadron colliders can therefore offer the same or better sensitivity to new physics with respect to high-precision low-energy measurements performed at lepton machines. We derive bounds on
a_\tau
a
τ
and
d_\tau
d
τ
using the full LHC Run II data set on tau-pair production and compare our findings with the current best limits on the tau anomalous moments.