Search for pair-production of long-lived heavy charged particles in e + e − annihilation The ALEPH Collaboration

A search for pair-production of long-lived, heavy, singly-charged particles has been performed with data collected by the ALEPH detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 172 GeV. Data at √ s = 161, 136, and 130 GeV are also included to improve the sensitivity to lower masses. No candidate is found in the data. A model-independent 95% confidence level upper limit on the production cross section at 172 GeV of 0.2–0.4 pb is derived for masses between 45 and 86 GeV/c. This cross section limit implies, assuming the MSSM, a lower limit of 67 (69) GeV/c on the mass of right(left-) handed long-lived scalar taus or scalar muons and of 86 GeV/c on the mass of long-lived charginos. (submitted to Physics Letters B) ∗See the following pages for the list of authors. The ALEPH Collaboration R. Barate, D. Buskulic, D. Decamp, P. Ghez, C. Goy, J.-P. Lees, A. Lucotte, M.-N. Minard, J.-Y. Nief, B. Pietrzyk Laboratoire de Physique des Particules (LAPP), INP-CNRS, 74019 Annecy-le-Vieux Cedex, France M.P. Casado, M. Chmeissani, P. Comas, J.M. Crespo, M. Delfino, E. Fernandez, M. Fernandez-Bosman, Ll. Garrido, A. Juste, M. Martinez, R. Miquel, Ll.M. Mir, S. Orteu, C. Padilla, I.C. Park, A. Pascual, J.A. Perlas, I. Riu, F. Sanchez, F. Teubert Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain A. Colaleo, D. Creanza, M. de Palma, G. Gelao, G. Iaselli, G. Maggi, M. Maggi, N. Marinelli, S. Nuzzo, A. Ranieri, G. Raso, F. Ruggieri, G. Selvaggi, L. Silvestris, P. Tempesta, A. Tricomi, G. Zito Dipartimento di Fisica, INFN Sezione di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy X. Huang, J. Lin, Q. Ouyang, T. Wang, Y. Xie, R. Xu, S. Xue, J. Zhang, L. Zhang, W. Zhao Institute of High-Energy Physics, Academia Sinica, Beijing, The People’s Republic of China D. Abbaneo, R. Alemany, A.O. Bazarko, U. Becker, P. Bright-Thomas, M. Cattaneo, F. Cerutti, G. Dissertori, H. Drevermann, R.W. Forty, M. Frank, R. Hagelberg, J.B. Hansen, J. Harvey, P. Janot, B. Jost, E. Kneringer, J. Knobloch, I. Lehraus, G. Lutters, P. Mato, A. Minten, L. Moneta, A. Pacheco, J.-F. Pusztaszeri, F. Ranjard, G. Rizzo, L. Rolandi, D. Schlatter, M. Schmitt, O. Schneider, W. Tejessy, I.R. Tomalin, H. Wachsmuth, A. Wagner European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland Z. Ajaltouni, A. Barrès, C. Boyer, A. Falvard, C. Ferdi, P. Gay, C . Guicheney, P. Henrard, J. Jousset, B. Michel, S. Monteil, J-C. Montret, D. Pallin, P. Perret, F. Podlyski, J. Proriol, P. Rosnet, J.M. Rossignol Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, Université Blaise Pascal, INP-CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, 63177 Aubière, France T. Fearnley, J.D. Hansen, J.R. Hansen, P.H. Hansen, B.S. Nilsson, B. Rensch, A. Wäänänen Niels Bohr Institute, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark G. Daskalakis, A. Kyriakis, C. Markou, E. Simopoulou, A. Vayaki Nuclear Research Center Demokritos (NRCD), Athens, Greece A. Blondel, J.C. Brient, F. Machefert, A. Rougé, M. Rumpf, A. Valassi, H. Videau Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et des Hautes Energies, Ecole Polytechnique, INP-CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France E. Focardi, G. Parrini, K. Zachariadou Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze, INFN Sezione di Firenze, 50125 Firenze, Italy R. Cavanaugh, M. Corden, C. Georgiopoulos, T. Huehn, D.E. Jaffe Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 323064052, USA 13,14 A. Antonelli, G. Bencivenni, G. Bologna, F. Bossi, P. Campana, G. Capon, D. Casper, V. Chiarella, G. Felici, P. Laurelli, G. Mannocchi, F. Murtas, G.P. Murtas, L. Passalacqua, M. Pepe-Altarelli Laboratori Nazionali dell’INFN (LNF-INFN), 00044 Frascati, Italy L. Curtis, S.J. Dorris, A.W. Halley, I.G. Knowles, J.G. Lynch, V. O’Shea, C. Raine, J.M. Scarr, K. Smith, P. Teixeira-Dias, A.S. Thompson, E. Thomson, F. Thomson, R.M. Turnbull Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ,United Kingdom C. Geweniger, G. Graefe, P. Hanke, G. Hansper, V. Hepp, E.E. Kluge, A. Putzer, M. Schmidt, J. Sommer, K. Tittel, S. Werner, M. Wunsch Institut für Hochenergiephysik, Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Fed. Rep. of Germany R. Beuselinck, D.M. Binnie, W. Cameron, P.J. Dornan, M. Girone, S. Goodsir, E.B. Martin, P. Morawitz, A. Moutoussi, J. Nash, J.K. Sedgbeer, A.M. Stacey, M.D. Williams Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom P. Girtler, D. Kuhn, G. Rudolph Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria A.P. Betteridge, C.K. Bowdery, P. Colrain, G. Crawford, A.J. Finch, F. Foster, G. Hughes, R.W. Jones, T. Sloan, E.P. Whelan, M.I. Williams Department of Physics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom C. Hoffmann, K. Jakobs, K. Kleinknecht, G. Quast, B. Renk, E. Rohne, H.-G. Sander, P. van Gemmeren, C. Zeitnitz Institut für Physik, Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Fed. Rep. of Germany J.J. Aubert, C. Benchouk, A. Bonissent, G. Bujosa, D. Calvet, J. Carr, P. Coyle, C. Diaconu, N. Konstantinidis, O. Leroy, F. Motsch, P. Payre, D. Rousseau, M. Talby, A. Sadouki, M. Thulasidas, A. Tilquin, K. Trabelsi Centre de Physique des Particules, Faculté des Sciences de Luminy, INP-CNRS, 13288 Marseille, France M. Aleppo, F. Ragusa Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano e INFN Sezione di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy. R. Berlich, W. Blum, V. Büscher, H. Dietl, G. Ganis, C. Gotzhein, H. Kroha, G. Lütjens, G. Lutz, W. Männer, H.-G. Moser, R. Richter, A. Rosado-Schlosser, S. Schael, R. Settles, H. Seywerd, R. St. Denis, H. Stenzel, W. Wiedenmann, G. Wolf Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, 80805 München, Fed. Rep. of Germany J. Boucrot, O. Callot, S. Chen, A. Cordier, M. Davier, L. Duflot, J.-F. Grivaz, Ph. Heusse, A. Höcker, A. Jacholkowska, M. Jacquet, D.W. Kim, F. Le Diberder, J. Lefrançois, A.-M. Lutz, I. Nikolic, M.H. Schune, S. Simion, E. Tournefier, J.-J. Veillet, I. Videau, D. Zerwas Laboratoire de l’Accélérateur Linéaire, Université de Paris-Sud, INP-CNRS, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France P. Azzurri, G. Bagliesi, G. Batignani, S. Bettarini, C. Bozzi, G. Calderini, M. Carpinelli, M.A. Ciocci, V. Ciulli, R. Dell’Orso, R. Fantechi, I. Ferrante, A. Giassi, A. Gregorio, F. Ligabue, A. Lusiani, P.S. Marrocchesi, A. Messineo, F. Palla, G. Sanguinetti, A. Sciabà, P. Spagnolo, J. Steinberger, R. Tenchini, G. Tonelli, C. Vannini, A. Venturi, P.G. Verdini Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università, INFN Sezione di Pisa, e Scuola Normale Superiore, 56010 Pisa, Italy G.A. Blair, L.M. Bryant, J.T. Chambers, Y. Gao, M.G. Green, T. Medcalf, P. Perrodo, J.A. Strong, J.H. von Wimmersperg-Toeller Department of Physics, Royal Holloway & Bedford New College, University of London, Surrey TW20 OEX, United Kingdom D.R. Botterill, R.W. Clifft, T.R. Edgecock, S. Haywood, P. Maley, P.R. Norton, J.C. Thompson, A.E. Wright Particle Physics Dept., Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 OQX, United Kingdom B. Bloch-Devaux, P. Colas, B. Fabbro, W. Kozanecki, E. Lançon, M.C. Lemaire, E. Locci, P. Perez, J. Rander, J.-F. Renardy, A. Rosowsky, A. Roussarie, J.-P. Schuller, J. Schwindling, A. Trabelsi, B. Vallage CEA, DAPNIA/Service de Physique des Particules, CE-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France S.N. Black, J.H. Dann, H.Y. Kim, A.M. Litke, M.A. McNeil, G. Taylor Institute for Particle Physics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA C.N. Booth, R. Boswell, C.A.J. Brew, S. Cartwright, F. Combley, M.S. Kelly, M. Lehto, W.M. Newton, J. Reeve, L.F. Thompson Department of Physics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom K. Affholderbach, A. Böhrer, S. Brandt, G. Cowan, J. Foss, C. Grupen, P. Saraiva, L. Smolik, F. Stephan Fachbereich Physik, Universität Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Fed. Rep. of Germany M. Apollonio, L. Bosisio, R. Della Marina, G. Giannini, B. Gobbo, G. Musolino Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trieste e INFN Sezione di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy J. Putz, J. Rothberg, S. Wasserbaech, R.W. Williams Experimental Elementary Particle Physics, University of Washington, WA 98195 Seattle, U.S.A. S.R. Armstrong, E. Charles, P. Elmer, D.P.S. Ferguson, S. González, T.C. Greening, O.J. Hayes, H. Hu, S. Jin, P.A. McNamara III, J.M. Nachtman, J. Nielsen, W. Orejudos, Y.B. Pan, Y. Saadi, I.J. Scott, J. Walsh, Sau Lan Wu, X. Wu, J.M. Yamartino, G. Zobernig Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA Now at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, U.S.A. Permanent address: Kangnung National University, Kangnung, Korea. Also at Dipartimento di Fisica, INFN Sezione di Catania, Catania, Italy. Also Istituto di Fisica Generale, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy. Also Istituto di Cosmo-Geofisica del C.N.R., Torino, Italy. Supported by the Commission of the European Communities, contract ERBCHBICT941234. Supported by CICYT, Spain. Supported by the National Science Foundation of China. Supported by the Danish Natural Science Research Council. Supported by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. Supported by the US Department of Energy, grant DE-FG0295-ER40896. Also at CERN, 1211 Geneva 23,Switzerland. Supported by the US Department of Energy, contract DE-FG05-92ER40742. Supported by the US Department of Energy, contract DE-FC05-85ER250000. Permanent address: Universitat de Barcelona, 08208 Barcelona, Spain. Supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Fed. Rep. of Germany. Supported by the Direction des Sciences de la Matière, C.E.A. Supported by Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Austria. Supported by the US Department of Energy, grant DE-FG03-92ER40689. Also at Istituto di Matematica e Fisica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy. Now at School of Operations Research and Industrial Engireering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3801, U.S.A.