Search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons in proton-proton collision events with a lepton-jet pair associated with a secondary vertex at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

Abstract

A search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb${}^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC is presented. Events are selected with a charged lepton originating from the primary vertex associated with the proton-proton interaction, as well as a second charged lepton and a hadronic jet associated with a secondary vertex that corresponds to the semileptonic decay of a long-lived HNL. No excess of events above the standard model expectation is observed. Exclusion limits at 95% confidence level are evaluated for HNLs that mix with electron and/or muon neutrinos. Limits are presented in the mass range of 1-16.5 GeV, with excluded square mixing parameter values reaching as low as 2 $\times$ 10${}^{-7}$. For masses above 11 GeV, the presented limits exceed all previous results in the semileptonic decay channel, and for some of the considered scenarios are the strongest to date.

arXiv commentReplaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables, including additional supplementary figures, can be found at http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/EXO-21-011 (CMS Public Pages)

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