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Searching for Non-Standard Model Highly Ionizing Processes and Long-Lived Neutral Particles With the MoEDAL-MAPP Detector

  • Author / Creator
    Salazar Lobos, Alejandro
  • The Monopole & Exotics Detector at the Large Hadron Collider (MoEDAL) is designed to search for highly ionizing particle avatars of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Phase 1 of the MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MAPP-1) upgrade is currently being installed to take data at LHC’s Run-3. MAPP-1 is designed to extend the discovery horizon of MoEDAL to include sensitivity to feebly interacting particles such as mini-charged particles, as well as very long-lived charged and neutral particles. Phase 2 of the MAPP detector, MAPP-2, will be installed in LS3 of the LHC for data taking during LHC’s Run-4 which is scheduled to start in 2029. MAPP-2 is designed to greatly extend the sensitivity of the MoEDAL-MAPP detector to long-lived neutral particles. This thesis reports contributions to four main areas in the development of the MAPP-1 and MAPP-2 detector systems. The first contribution is the planning and fabrication of the main scintillator elements of the MAPP-1 detector and the LED calibration system. The second contribution details the testing of the PMT readout for the scintillating elements of MAPP-1. A third contribution presents a refinement to the calculation of ionization energy loss for a neutral particle with an anomalously large EDM. An example of such a particle has been hypothesized to be a fourth-lepton generation Majorana particle through a heavy neutrino, a member of a fourth generation lepton doublet with an anomalously large EDM. A fourth topic of the thesis work is the development of prototype tracking and vertexing software for MAPP-2. Here, it was shown that vertex resolutions around 2.0 cm in all dimensions could be achieved using a scintillator tile technology utilizing X-Y WLS fibre readout with a 1 cm pitch.

  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Graduation date
    Fall 2023
  • Type of Item
    Thesis
  • Degree
    Master of Science
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-z44g-b757
  • 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.