LHC Searches for Long-Lived BSM Particles: Theory Meets Experiment

New long-lived particles are predicted in many beyond the standard model theories. They have been extensively searched for in collider data, most recently in Run 1 of the LHC. At this time, as the community prepares for Run 2 analysis, there is a need to examine the previous searches, identify weak or uncovered areas, and develop a coherent strategy targeting all possible scenarios. The goal of the workshop is to bring experimentalists and theorists together to discuss these issues and help improve the coverage, flexibility, and future utility of LHC searches for long-lived particles, to ensure that potential long-lived BSM particles do not escape detection at the LHC.

This workshop will examine the current searches for new long-lived particles at the LHC, evaluate gaps in coverage, and discuss the presentation of results. Based on this, one of the goals of the workshop is to identify a set of simplified models based on theoretical input in order to guide the searches in the 13TeV LHC run, to either discover or exclude the existence of such particles. A similar exercise has been performed in recent years for SUSY searches and has proved to be very fruitful. In addition, we plan to discuss the need for any tools to facilitate the execution of these analyses, such as event generators. At the same time, we hope to establish a clear formalism for presenting the experimental results of long-lived searches such that future re-interpretation is possible and straightforward. This has often been a challenge and it is the goal of the workshop to develop new standards which would allow improvements in recasting these searches as theory evolves.

Co-organizers:
Stefania Gori (Perimeter Institute & U. Cincinatti)
Eva Halkiadakis (Rutgers U.)
Michele Papucci (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
Michael Ramsey-Musolf (U. Mass Amherst)
Jessie Shelton (U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Stephane Willocq (U. Mass Amherst)