The MoEDAL experiment at the LHC. Searching beyond the standard model

University of Alberta, Physics Department, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 0V1, Canada

^a e-mail: jpinfold@ualberta.ca

Published online: 4 November 2016

Abstract

MoEDAL is a pioneering experiment designed to search for highly ionizing avatars of new physics such as magnetic monopoles or massive (pseudo-)stable charged particles. Its groundbreaking physics program defines a number of scenarios that yield potentially revolutionary insights into such foundational questions as: are there extra dimensions or new symmetries; what is the mechanism for the generation of mass; does magnetic charge exist; what is the nature of dark matter; and, how did the big-bang develop. MoEDAL’s purpose is to meet such far-reaching challenges at the frontier of the field.

The innovative MoEDAL detector employs unconventional methodologies tuned to the prospect of discovery physics. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Point 8 on the LHC ring, has a dual nature. First, it acts like a giant camera, comprised of nuclear track detectors - analyzed offline by ultra fast scanning microscopes - sensitive only to new physics. Second, it is uniquely able to trap the particle messengers of physics beyond the Standard Model for further study. MoEDAL’s radiation environment is monitored by a state-of-the-art real-time TimePix pixel detector array. A new MoEDAL sub-detector to extend MoEDAL’s reach to millicharged, minimally ionizing, particles (MMIPs) is under study Finally we shall describe the next step for MoEDAL called Cosmic MoEDAL, where we define a very large high altitude array to take the search for highly ionizing avatars of new physics to higher masses that are available from the cosmos.