Physics From Beyond the Standard Model: Exotic Matter Searches at the LHC with the MoEDAL-MAPP Experiment

• Author / Creator

  Staelens, Michael A

• MoEDAL-MAPP is a pioneering experiment designed to search for highly ionizing (HIP) and feebly interacting (FIP) particle avatars of new physics in p–p and heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC (MoEDAL) baseline detector first took data at the LHC’s Run-2 (2015–2018). This detector was dedicated to the search for HIPs, such as magnetic monopoles or massive (pseudo-)stable charged particles, that are predicted to exist in a plethora of models beyond the Standard Model. The MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MAPP) Experiment is designed to extend this search for new physics for the LHC’s Run-3 (2022–2025, with MAPP to begin taking data in 2023 and beyond) to include FIPs; any avatars of new physics with small couplings << 1, such as mini-ionizing particles (mIPs) and long-lived particles (LLPs) abound in various BSM theories. MoEDAL’s and MoEDAL-MAPP’s ground-breaking physics programs define a number of scenarios that yield potentially revolutionary insights into such foundational questions as: are there extra dimensions or new symmetries; what is the mechanism for the generation of mass; does magnetic charge exist; and what is the nature of dark matter? This thesis explores three aspects of this experimental and theoretical arena. First, the MoEDAL baseline detector, as well as the latest results on magnetic monopole production at the LHC obtained from the MoEDAL MMT subdetector exposed to p–p collisions at Run-2, are described. Combined results obtained from the MoEDAL NTD and MMT prototype detectors deployed during Run-1 are also discussed. Second, the design, and construction of the MAPP Phase-I and -II detectors is presented; and, third the physics reach of the MoEDAL-MAPP Experiment is explored, concentrating on several representative physics channels involving new FIPs.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • High Energy Physics
  • Beyond the Standard Model
  • Magnetic Monopole
  • Dark Matter
  • LHC
  • MoEDAL Experiment
  • Highly Ionizing Particles
  • Feebly Interacting Particles

• Graduation date

  Fall 2021

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-g8yh-hv16

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.