CMS-PAS-EXO-24-005

CMS-PAS-EXO-24-005
Search for scalar leptoquarks produced via muon-quark scattering in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV
CMS Collaboration
2025-09-04

Abstract: The first search for scalar leptoquarks at the TeV scale produced in muon-quark collisions is presented. It is based on a set of proton-proton (pp) collision data recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Due to quantum fluctuations, protons also contain charged leptons, making it possible to study lepton-induced processes. When a muon from one proton beam interacts with a quark from the other beam, the process allows the study of resonant single leptoquark production and its subsequent decay. The final state includes events with one or two muons plus a jet which can come from the hadronization of either a light quark or a b quark. The main physical observable is the invariant mass of the muon-jet system whose distribution peaks at the leptoquark mass. Upper limits are set on the product of the leptoquark production cross section and branching fraction to the muon-quark final state. The results exclude wide regions in the parameter plane of the leptoquark mass and the leptoquark-muon-quark coupling.
Links: CDS record (PDF) ; CADI line (restricted) ; These preliminary results are superseded in this paper, Submitted to JHEP. The superseded preliminary plots can be found here.

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