ANUBIS: Extending the LHC’s reach in the search for Long-Lived Particles

by Dr Aashaq Shah

Wednesday 14 May 2025, 14:30 → 16:30 Europe/London

OLL/3-337 (Liverpool Physics)

A wide range of theories beyond the Standard Model (SM), particularly those involving dark matter candidates, predict the existence of long-lived particles (LLPs). The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) offers an exceptional opportunity to explore these particles at the electroweak scale and beyond. However, current LHC detectors such as ATLAS and CMS are limited in their sensitivity to neutral LLPs with long lifetimes (proper decay lengths cτ>10 m), which often escape detection due to their decays occurring outside the active detector volume.

The ANUBIS project aims to overcome this limitation by instrumenting the ceilings of the ATLAS underground cavern with large-area tracking detectors. This would significantly extend the LHC’s discovery potential for LLPs with macroscopic lifetimes. As a first step toward realising this vision, a prototype demonstrator -- proANUBIS -- was installed during the Year-End Technical Stop (YETS) of 2022 and has been collecting data during Run 3. proANUBIS is expected to provide valuable insights into the expected backgrounds and technical challenges associated with operating detectors in the cavern infrastructure.

In this talk, I will present the ANUBIS concept and its physics motivation, outline the detector requirements and candidate technologies, and report on the status and early results from proANUBIS. I will also discuss the ongoing R&D efforts and future plans aimed at making ANUBIS a reality for the High-Luminosity LHC era.

 

Zoom Meeting
https://liverpool-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/99160552004?pwd=wauP7vzqpo7tEFHnJQwQ3cxvbLvCns.1

Meeting ID: 991 6055 2004
Passcode: ZyFZ^?35