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At least 19 records

Vectorlike leptons: Muon g - 2 anomaly, lepton flavor violation, Higgs boson decays, and lepton nonuniversality

Here, we discuss the Standard Model (SM) with one family of vectorlike (VL) leptons, which couple to all three families of the SM leptons. We study the constraints on this model coming from the heavy-charged lepton mass bound, electroweak precision data, the muon anomalous magnetic moment, lepton flavor violation, Higgs boson decay constraints, and a recently measured lepton nonuniversality observable, R K * 0 , along with R K . We find that the strongest constraints are coming from the muon g - 2 , R μ μ = Γ ( h → μ μ ) / Γ ( h → μ μ ) SM , R γ γ and BR ( μ → e γ ) . While VL leptons couple to all three families of the SM leptons, the ratio of electron-VL to muon-VL coupling is constrained to be 〈 λ e / λ μ 〉 ≲ 10 - 4 . We also find that this model cannot fit the lepton nonuniversality discrepancies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for lepton-flavor and lepton-number-violating τ → ℓ h h ' decay modes

We search for lepton-flavor-violating and lepton-number-violating τ decays into a lepton (ℓ = electron or muon) and two charged mesons (h, h' = π ± or K ± ) using 854 fb -1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + e - collider. We obtain 90% confidence level upper limits on the τ → ℓhh' branching fractions in the range (2.0-8.4)×10 -8 . These results improve upon our previously published upper limits by factors of about 1.8 on average.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for heavy neutral leptons in decays of W bosons using leptonic and semi-leptonic displaced vertices in $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), produced through the decay of a W boson along with a muon or electron. Two channels are explored: a leptonic channel, in which the HNL decays into two leptons and a neutrino, and a semi-leptonic channel, in which the HNL decays into a lepton and a charged pion. The search is performed with 140 fb −1 of $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by ATLAS during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. No excess of events is observed; Dirac-like and Majorana-like HNLs with masses below 14.5 GeV and mixing coefficients as small as 10 −7 are excluded at the 95% confidence level. The results are interpreted under different assumptions on the flavour of the leptons from the HNL decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the $Z$ boson into a $\tau$-lepton and a light lepton with the ATLAS detector

Lepton flavour violation in the charged lepton sector is an unambiguous signal of physics beyond the Standard Model. Searches for lepton flavour violation in decays of the Z Z boson with the ATLAS detector is reported, focusing on decays into an electron or muon and a hadronically decaying \tau τ -lepton, using pp p p collisions data with a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. Upper limits on the branching ratios of lepton-flavor-violating decays are set at the 95% confidence level: \mathcal{B}(Z\to e\tau) < 5.8\times10^{-5} ℬ ( Z → e τ ) < 5.8 × 10 − 5 and \mathcal{B}(Z\to \mu\tau) < 2.4\times10^{-5} ℬ ( Z → μ τ ) < 2.4 × 10 − 5 . When combined with a previous ATLAS result based on pp p p collisions data with a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, an upper limit of \mathcal{B}(Z\to \mu\tau) < 1.3\times10^{-5} ℬ ( Z → μ τ ) < 1.3 × 10 − 5 is obtained.

Chan, Wing Sheung↗

Search for Long-Lived Heavy Neutral Leptons with Lepton Flavour Conserving or Violating Decays to a Jet and a Charged Lepton

A search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) is presented, which considers the hadronic final state and coupling scenarios involving all three lepton generations in the 2–20 GeV HNL mass range for the first time. Events comprising two leptons (electrons or muons) and jets are analyzed in a data sample of proton-proton collisions, recorded with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{−1}$. A novel jet tagger, based on a deep neural network, has been developed to identify jets from an HNL decay using various features of the jet and its constituent particles. The network output can be used as a powerful discriminating tool to probe a broad range of HNL lifetimes and masses. Contributions from background processes are determined from data. No excess of events in data over the expected background is observed. Upper limits on the HNL production cross section are derived as functions of the HNL mass and the three coupling strengths V$_{ℓN}$ to each lepton generation ℓ and presented as exclusion limits in the coupling-mass plane, as lower limits on the HNL lifetime, and on the HNL mass. In this search, the most stringent limit on the coupling strength is obtained for pure muon coupling scenarios; values of |$ {V}_{\mu \textrm{N}}^2 $| > 5 (4) × 10$^{−7}$ are excluded for Dirac (Majorana) HNLs with a mass of 10 GeV at a confidence level of 95% that correspond to proper decay lengths of 17 (10) mm.[graphic not available: see fulltext]

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for the Higgs boson in lepton, tau and jets final states

We present a search for the standard model Higgs boson in final states with an electron or muon and a hadronically decaying tau lepton in association with two or more jets using 9.7 fb –1 of Run II Fermilab Tevatron Collider data collected with the D0 detector. The analysis is sensitive to Higgs boson production via gluon fusion, associated vector boson production, and vector boson fusion, followed by the Higgs boson decay to tau lepton pairs or to W boson pairs. The ratios of 95% C.L. upper limits on the cross section times branching ratio to those predicted by the standard model are obtained for orthogonal subsamples that are enriched in either H → ττ decays or H → WW decays, and for the combination of these subsample limits. As a result, the observed and expected limit ratios for the combined subsample at a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV are 11.3 and 9.0, respectively.

experiment-HEP↗

Search for direct slepton and gaugino production in final states with two leptons and missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV

A search for the electroweak pair production of charged sleptons and weak gauginos decaying into final states with two leptons is performed using 4.7 fb -1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. No significant excesses are observed with respect to the prediction from Standard Model processes. In the scenario of direct slepton production, if the sleptons decay directly into the lightest neutralino, left-handed slepton masses between 85 and 195 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a 20 GeV neutralino. Chargino masses between 110 and 340 GeV are excluded in the scenario of direct production of wino-like chargino pairs decaying into the lightest neutralino via an intermediate on-shell charged slepton for a 10 GeV neutralino. The results are also interpreted in the framework of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric Standard Model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for vectorlike leptons in multilepton final states in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV

A search for vector-like leptons in multilepton final states is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 77.4 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016 and 2017. Events are categorized by the multiplicity of electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying $\tau$ leptons. The missing transverse momentum and the scalar sum of the lepton transverse momenta are used to distinguish the signal from background. The observed results are consistent with the expectations from the standard model hypothesis. The existence of a vector-like lepton doublet, coupling to the third generation standard model leptons in the mass range of 120-790 GeV, is excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits yet on the production of a vector-like lepton doublet, coupling to the third generation standard model leptons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for new phenomena in events with three or more charged leptons in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=8 $ TeV with the ATLAS detector

A generic search for anomalous production of events with at least three charged leptons is presented. The data sample consists of pp collisions at √s=8 TeV collected in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb -1 . Events are required to have at least three selected lepton candidates, at least two of which must be electrons or muons, while the third may be a hadronically decaying tau. Selected events are categorized based on their lepton flavour content and signal regions are constructed using several kinematic variables of interest. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed. Model-independent upper limits on contributions from beyond the Standard Model phenomena are provided for each signal region, along with prescription to re-interpret the limits for any model. Constraints are also placed on models predicting doubly charged Higgs bosons and excited leptons. For doubly charged Higgs bosons decaying to eτ or μτ, lower limits on the mass are set at 400 GeV at 95% confidence level. For excited leptons, constraints are provided as functions of both the mass of the excited state and the compositeness scale Λ, with the strongest mass constraints arising in regions where the mass equals Λ. In such scenarios, lower mass limits are set at 3.0 TeV for excited electrons and muons, 2.5 TeV for excited taus, and 1.6 TeV for every excited-neutrino flavour.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Search for excited $τ$-leptons and leptoquarks in the final state with $τ$-leptons and jets in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is reported for excited $τ$-leptons and leptoquarks in events with two hadronically decaying $τ$-leptons and two or more jets. The search uses proton-proton ($pp$) collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment during the Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2018. The total integrated luminosity is 139 fb -1 . The excited $τ$-lepton is assumed to be produced and to decay via a four-fermion contact interaction into an ordinary $τ$-lepton and a quark-antiquark pair. The leptoquarks are assumed to be produced in pairs via the strong interaction, and each leptoquark is assumed to couple to a charm or lighter quark and a $τ$-lepton. No excess over the background prediction is observed. Excited $τ$-leptons with masses below 2.8 TeV are excluded at 95% CL in scenarios with the contact interaction scale Λ set to 10 TeV. At the extreme limit of model validity where Λ is set equal to the excited $τ$-lepton mass, excited $τ$-leptons with masses below 4.6 TeV are excluded. Leptoquarks with masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded at 95% CL if their branching ratio to a charm quark and a $τ$-lepton equals 1. The analysis does not exploit flavour-tagging in the signal region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for an excited lepton that decays via a contact interaction to a lepton and two jets in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

Results are presented from a search for events containing an excited lepton (electron or muon) produced in association with an ordinary lepton of the same flavor and decaying to a lepton and two hadronic jets. Both the production and the decay of the excited leptons are assumed to occur via a contact interaction with a characteristic energy scale Λ. The branching fraction for the decay mode under study increases with the mass of the excited lepton and is the most sensitive channel for very heavy excited leptons. The analysis uses a sample of proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 77.4 fb$^{−1}$. The four-body invariant mass of the two lepton plus two jet system is used as the primary discriminating variable. No significant excess of events beyond the expectation for standard model processes is observed. Assuming that Λ is equal to the mass of the excited leptons, excited electrons and muons with masses below 5.6 and 5.7 TeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the best limits to date.[graphic not available: see fulltext]

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Leptonic cascade decays of a heavy Higgs boson through vectorlike leptons at the LHC

We demonstrate the potential of fully leptonic cascade decays of a heavy neutral Higgs boson through vectorlike leptons as a simultaneous probe for extended Higgs sectors and extra matter particles at the LHC. The processes we explore are unique in that their event topologies lead to di-boson-like leptonic final states with a lepton pair which does not reconstruct the mass of a gauge boson. By recasting existing $2\ell$ + $E^{\text{miss}}_{R}$ and $3/4\ell$ searches channels using run2 data from the LHC we obtain model independent bounds on the masses of heavy scalars and vectorlike leptons and use these results to explore future prospects at the HL-LHC. Our results can be directly applied to any kind of new physics scenarios sharing the final states and the event topology. For concreteness, we apply our results to a benchmark scenario: a two Higgs doublet model type-II augmented with vectorlike leptons. Remarkably, even with current data the sensitivity of our analysis shows a reach for masses of a heavy neutral Higgs and vectorlike leptons up to 2 TeV and 1.5 TeV, respectively. Even for low tan β ≳ 1, the analysis retains sensitivity to heavy Higgs masses slightly above 1 TeV. The future sensitivities at the HL-LHC extend the reach for heavy Higgses and new leptons to 2.7 TeV and 2 TeV, respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of the τ -lepton Lifetime at Belle

We report that the lifetime of the τ lepton is measured using the process e + e - → τ + τ - , where both τ leptons decay to 3 π ν τ . The result for the mean lifetime, based on 711 fb - 1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the Y ( 4 S ) resonance and 60 MeV below, is τ = ( 290 . 17 ± 0.53 ( stat ) ± 0.33 ( syst ) ) × 10 - 15 s . The first measurement of the lifetime difference between τ + and τ - is performed. The upper limit on the relative lifetime difference between positive and negative τ leptons is | Δ τ | / τ < 7.0 × 10 - 3 at 90% C.L.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗