Probing MeV to 90 GeV axion-like particles with LEP and LHC

Axion-like particles (ALPs), relatively light (pseudo-)scalars coupled to two gauge bosons, are a common feature of many extensions of the Standard Model. Up to now there has been a gap in the sensitivity to such particles in the MeV to 10 GeV range. In this note we show that LEP data on Z→γγ decays...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Joerg Jaeckel, Michael Spannowsky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2016-02-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315009855
Description
Summary:Axion-like particles (ALPs), relatively light (pseudo-)scalars coupled to two gauge bosons, are a common feature of many extensions of the Standard Model. Up to now there has been a gap in the sensitivity to such particles in the MeV to 10 GeV range. In this note we show that LEP data on Z→γγ decays provides significant constraints in this range (and indeed up to the Z-mass). We also discuss the sensitivities of LHC and future colliders. Particularly the LHC shows promising sensitivity in searching for a pseudo-scalar with 4≲ma≲60 GeV in the channel pp→3γ with m3γ≈mZ.
ISSN:0370-2693
1873-2445