Light long-lived particles at the FCC-hh with the proposal for a dedicated forward detector FOREHUNT and a transverse detector DELIGHT

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a dedicated forward detector, FOREHUNT (FORward Experiment for HUNdred TeV), for 100 TeV FCC-hh for the detection of light long-lived particles (LLP) coming from B-meson decay. We calculate the signal acceptance as a function of mass and proper decay length of the LLP for 100 TeV and interpret our result in terms of model parameters for models of dark Higgs scalar and heavy neutral leptons. We also compare the sensitivity with proposed transverse detectors like MATHUSLA, CODEX-b for HL-LHC, and DELIGHT (Detector for long-lived particles at high energy of 100 TeV) for FCC-hh. Our analysis reveals that if the LLP is light (≲4.4  GeV) and has a low proper decay length (<10  m), a forward detector like FOREHUNT is the best option to look for the decaying LLP, while DELIGHT is preferable for higher proper decay lengths. Published by the American Physical Society 2024