arXiv subjects

Rafał Masełek

Publications and source records attributed to Rafał Masełek.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Prospects for detecting charged long-lived BSM particles at MoEDAL-MAPP experiment: A mini-review

The search for physics beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider is expanding to include unconventional signatures such as long-lived particles. This mini-review assesses the prospects for detecting electrically charged long-lived particles using the MoEDAL-MAPP experiment. We synthesize findings from recent studies that evaluate sensitivity to supersymmetric models, radiative neutrino mass scenarios, and generic multiply charged objects. A key component of this review is the comparative analysis of MoEDAL's reach against the general-purpose ATLAS and CMS experiments. We conclude that while MoEDAL is constrained by lower integrated luminosity, its passive, background-free detection methodology offers a unique advantage. Specifically, the experiment provides complementarity to the major detectors, particularly for signals involving slow-moving particles and stable states with intermediate electric charges.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Early Career Researcher Input to the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update: White Paper

This document, written by early career researchers (ECRs) in particle physics, aims to represent the perspectives of the European ECR community and serves as input for the 2025--2026 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. With input from a community-wide survey, it highlights key challenges faced by ECRs -- career stability, funding access and long-term research opportunities -- while proposing policy recommendations and targeted initiatives. It underscores the importance of practices fostering diverse, equitable, inclusive and healthy workplaces, as well as of stronger ECR communities, and highlights how effective communication and interdisciplinary collaborations reinforce the societal relevance of particle physics and promote continued support for large-scale and long-term projects. Finally, the future of both collider and beyond-collider experiments is addressed, emphasising the critical role of ECRs in shaping future projects. The ECR contribution is formed of two parts: the ten-page executive summary submitted as input to the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update and, as backup document, this extended white paper providing additional context.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Machine Learning Electroweakino Production

The system of light electroweakinos and heavy squarks gives rise to one of the most challenging signatures to detect at the LHC. It consists of missing transverse energy recoiled against a few hadronic jets originating either from QCD radiation or squark decays. The analysis generally suffers from the large irreducible Z + jets $(Z \to ν\bar ν)$ background. In this study, we explore Machine Learning (ML) methods for efficient signal/background discrimination. Our best attempt uses both reconstructed (jets, missing transverse energy, etc.) and low-level (particle-flow) objects. We find that the discrimination performance improves as the pT threshold for soft particles is lowered from 10 GeV to 1 GeV, at the expense of larger systematic uncertainty. In many cases, the ML method provides a factor two enhancement in $S/\sqrt{(S + B)}$ from a simple kinematical selection. The sensitivity on the squark-elecroweakino mass plane is derived with this method, assuming the Run-3 and HL-LHC luminosities. Moreover, we investigate the relations between input features and the network's classification performance to reveal the physical information used in the background/signal discrimination process.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Machine Learning Classification of Sphalerons and Black Holes at the LHC

In models with large extra dimensions, "miniature" black holes (BHs) might be produced in high-energy proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the semi-classical regime, those BHs thermally decay, giving rise to large-multiplicity final states with jets and leptons. On the other hand, similar final states are also expected in the production of electroweak sphaleron/instanton-induced processes. We investigate whether one can discriminate these scenarios when BH or sphaleron-like events are observed in the LHC using machine learning (ML) methods. Classification among several BH scenarios with different numbers of extra dimensions and the minimal BH masses is also examined. In this study we consider three ML models: XGBoost algorithms with (1) high- and (2) low-level inputs, and (3) a Residual Convolutional Neural Network. In the latter case, the low-level detector information is converted into an input format of three-layer binned event images, where the value of each bin corresponds to the energy deposited in various detector subsystems. We demonstrate that only a small number of detected events are sufficient to effectively discriminate between the sphaleron and BH processes. Separation between BH scenarios with different minimal masses is possible with an order of 10 events passing the preselection. A sufficient number of events could be observed in combined Run-2 and -3 data, if the production cross section is not much smaller than the present limit ~ 0.1 fb. We find, however, that a large number of events is needed to discriminate between BH hypotheses with the same minimal BH mass, but different numbers of extra dimensions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Prospects for detecting long-lived particles at the Large Hadron Collider

This thesis summarises four years of research aiming at revealing the prospects for detection of long-lived particles at the LHC. It contains results of four projects, which have been published as independent articles. Each of the projects investigated prospects for the detection of long-lived particles predicted by one of the many BSM models, e.g. supersymmetry, seesaw, radiative neutrino mass generation models, and simplified models. The sensitivity to New Physics of ATLAS, CMS and (for the first time) MoEDAL experiments was estimated.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Monojet signatures from gluino and squark decays

We study the monojet and dijet channels at the LHC as a tool for searching for squarks and gluinos. We consider two separate R-parity conserving supersymmetric scenarios. In the first scenario we postulate a large mass hierarchy between squarks ($\tilde q$) and winos ($\widetilde W$), and wino-like neutralino is assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The associated squark-wino production, $pp \to \tilde q \widetilde W$, then leads to a monojet-like signature, where the high $p_T$ jet is originated from the squark decay, $\tilde q \to q + \widetilde W$. We demonstrate that this associated production, as well as the $pp \to \widetilde W \widetilde W + {\rm jets}$ production, have a significant impact on the exclusion limit in the squark-neutralino mass plane. The second scenario postulates that the lighter of the squark and gluino is only a few GeV heavier than the LSP neutralino. The associated squark-gluino production, $pp \to \tilde q \tilde g$, then leads to a distinctive monojet signature, where the high $p_T$ jet is produced from the decay of the heavier coloured particle into the lighter one ($\tilde q \to q + \tilde g$ for $m_{\tilde q} > m_{\tilde g}$ and $\tilde g \to q + \tilde q$ for $m_{\tilde g} > m_{\tilde q}$). The lighter coloured particle is effectively regarded as an invisible particle since the decay products are soft due to the approximate mass degeneracy. We recast existing monojet and dijet analyses and find a non-trivial exclusion limit in the squark-gluino mass plane in this scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Discovery prospects for long-lived multiply charged particles at the LHC

In this work, we aim to provide a comprehensive and largely model independent investigation on prospects to detect long-lived multiply charged particles at the LHC. We consider particles with spin 0 and $\frac{1}{2}$, with electric charges in range $1 \le |Q/e| \le 8$, which are singlet or triplet under $SU(3)_C$. Such particles might be produced as particle-antiparticle pairs and propagate through detectors, or form a positronium(quarkonium)-like bound state. We consider both possibilities and estimate lower mass bounds on new particles, that can be provided by ATLAS, CMS and MoEDAL experiments at the end of Run 3 and HL-LHC data taking periods. We find out that the sensitivities of ATLAS and CMS are generally stronger than those of MoEDAL at Run 3, while they may be competitive at HL-LHC for $3 \lesssim |Q/e| \lesssim 7$ for all types of long-lived particles we consider.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Supersymmetric explanation of the muon g-2 anomaly with and without stable neutralino

In this paper we explore the possibility of explaining the muon $g-2$ anomaly in various types of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. In particular, we investigate and compare the phenomenological constraints in the MSSM with stable neutralino and the other types of scenarios where the neutralino is unstable. For the latter case we study the Gauge Mediated SUSY Breaking (GMSB) scenario with very light gravitino and the $UDD$-type R-Parity Violating (RPV) scenario. In the MSSM with stable neutralino, the parameter region favoured by the $(g-2)_μ$ is strongly constrained by the neutralino relic abundance and the dark matter direct detection experiments, as well as by the LHC searches in the lepton plus missing transverse energy channel. On the other hand, the scenarios without stable neutralino are free from the dark matter constraints, while the LHC constraints depend strongly on the decay of the neutralino. We find that in GMSB the entire parameter region favoured by the muon $g-2$ is already excluded if the Next Lightest SUSY Particle (NLSP) is the neutralino, while some regions are still allowed if the NLSP is stau. In the RPV scenario, the LHC constraints are much weaker than the other scenarios and a wide region of the parameter space is still open for the muon $g-2$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Muon g-2 in SUSY scenarios with and without stable neutralinos

We investigate a possibility to explain the discrepancy between the Standard Model predictions and the observed value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon within unorthodox SUSY scenarios in which neutralinos are unstable. We start by reviewing the muon g-2 calculations in the MSSM and confront it with the most up-to-date experimental constraints. We find out that the next generation of direct detection DM experiments combined with the current LHC results will ultimately test the parameter region that can explain the $(g-2)_μ$ anomaly in the MSSM. Next, we study R-parity violating and gauge-mediated SUSY-breaking scenarios with unstable neutralinos. These models do not provide a viable DM candidate, which allows them to evade the DM constraints. We find that in RPV and GMSB with slepton NLSP the LHC constraints are weaker, and a large region of parameter space can explain the observed anomaly and evade experimental limits.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Detecting long-lived multi-charged particles in neutrino mass models with MoEDAL

A certain class of neutrino mass models predicts long-lived particles whose electric charge is four or three times larger than that of protons. Such particles, if they are light enough, may be produced at the LHC and detected. We investigate the possibility of observing those long-lived multi-charged particles with the MoEDAL detector, which is sensitive to long-lived particles with low velocities ($β$) and a large electric charge ($Z$) with $Θ\equiv β/Z \lesssim 0.15$. We demonstrate that multi-charged scalar particles with a large $Z$ give three-fold advantage for MoEDAL; reduction of $Θ$ due to strong interactions with the detector, and enhancement of the photon-fusion process, which not only increases the production cross-section but also lowers the average production velocity, reducing $Θ$ further. To demonstrate the performance of MoEDAL on multi-charged long-lived particles, two concrete neutrino mass models are studied. In the first model, the new physics sector is non-coloured and contains long-lived particles with electric charges 2, 3 and 4. A model-independent study finds MoEDAL can expect more than 1 signal event at the HL-LHC ($L = 300$ fb$^{-1}$) if these particles are lighter than 600, 1100 and 1430 GeV, respectively. These compare with the current ATLAS limits 650, 780 and 920 GeV for $L = 36$ fb$^{-1}$. The second model has a coloured new physics sector, which possesses long-lived particles with electric charges 4/3, 7/3 and 10/3. The corresponding MoEDAL's mass reaches at the HL-LHC are 1400, 1650 and 1800 GeV, respectively, which compare with the current CMS limits 1450, 1480 and 1510 GeV for $L = 36$ fb$^{-1}$. In a model-specific study we explore the parameter space of neutrino mass generation models and identify the regions that can be probed with MoEDAL at the end of Run-3 and the High-Luminosity LHC.

hep-ph↗