Search for an axion-like particle with forward proton scattering in association with photon pairs at ATLAS

The ATLAS collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A search for forward proton scattering in association with light-by-light scattering mediated by an axion-like particle is presented, using the ATLAS Forward Proton spectrometer to detect scattered protons and the central ATLAS detector to detect pairs of outgoing photons. Proton-proton collision data recorded in 2017 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV were analysed, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 14.6 fb-1. A total of 441 candidate events were selected. A search was made for a narrow resonance in the diphoton mass distribution, corresponding to an axion-like particle (ALP) with mass in the range 150–1600 GeV. No excess is observed above a smooth background. Upper limits on the production cross section of a narrow resonance are set as a function of the mass, and are interpreted as upper limits on the ALP production coupling constant, assuming 100% decay branching ratio into a photon pair. The inferred upper limit on the coupling constant is in the range 0.04–0.09 TeV-1 at 95% confidence level.

Original languageEnglish
Article number234
Pages (from-to)1-37
Number of pages38
JournalJournal of High Energy Physics
Volume2023
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s). Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • CP Violation
  • Hadron-Hadron Scattering

Cite this