2024/11/21 by Ying-nan Mao, Mao, Ying-nan, Kechen Wang +2 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.14041
openalex publication_date 2024/11/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose a search strategy at the HL-LHC for a new neutral particle X that couples to W-bosons, using the process p p → W± X (→ W+ W-) with a tri-W-boson final state. Focusing on events with two same-sign leptonic W-boson decays into muons and a hadronically decaying W-boson, our method leverages the enhanced signal-to-background discrimination achieved through a machine-learning-based multivariate analysis. Using the heavy photophobic axion-like particle (ALP) as a benchmark, we evaluate the discovery sensitivities on both production cross section times branching ratio σ(p p → W± X) × \textrmBr(X → W+ W-) and the coupling gaWW for the particle mass over a wide range of 170-3000 GeV at the HL-LHC with center-of-mass energy √(s) = 14 TeV and integrated luminosity L = 3 \textrmab-1. Our results show significant improvements in discovery sensitivity, particularly for masses above 300 GeV, compared to existing limits derived from CMS analyses of Standard Model (SM) tri-W-boson production at √(s) = 13 TeV. This study demonstrates the potential of advanced selection techniques in probing the coupling of new particles to W-bosons and highlights the HL-LHC's capability to explore the physics beyond the SM.