The existence of right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses below the electroweak scale could help address the origins of neutrino masses, thematter–antimatter asymmetry, and dark matter. In this paper, leptonic decays of W bosons from 140 fb-1 of 13 TeV proton–proton collisions at the LHC, reconstructed in the ATLAS experiment, are used to search for heavy neutral leptons produced through their mixing with muon or electron neutrinos in a scenario with lepton number violation. The search is conducted using prompt leptonic decay signatures. The considered final states require two same-charge leptons or three leptons, while vetoing three-lepton same-flavour topologies. No significant excess over the expected Standard Model backgrounds is found, leading to constraints on the heavy neutral lepton’s mixing with muon and electron neutrinos for heavy neutral-lepton masses. The analysis excludes |Ue|2 values above 8x10-5 and |Umu|2 values above 5.0x10-5 in the full mass range of 8-65 GeV. The strongest constraints are placed on heavy-neutral-lepton masses in the range 15-30 GeV of |Ue|2 < 1.1 x 10-5 and |Umu|2 < 5 x 10-6.

Null, N., Aad, G., Aakvaag, E., Abbott, B., Abdelhameed, S., Abeling, K., et al. (2026). Search for heavy neutral leptons in decays of W bosons produced in 13 TeV pp collisions using prompt signatures in the ATLAS detector. EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. C, PARTICLES AND FIELDS, 86(2) [10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15191-w].

Search for heavy neutral leptons in decays of W bosons produced in 13 TeV pp collisions using prompt signatures in the ATLAS detector

Aielli, G.;Camarri, P.;Cerrito, L.;De Sanctis, U.;Di Ciaccio, A.;
2026-01-01

Abstract

The existence of right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses below the electroweak scale could help address the origins of neutrino masses, thematter–antimatter asymmetry, and dark matter. In this paper, leptonic decays of W bosons from 140 fb-1 of 13 TeV proton–proton collisions at the LHC, reconstructed in the ATLAS experiment, are used to search for heavy neutral leptons produced through their mixing with muon or electron neutrinos in a scenario with lepton number violation. The search is conducted using prompt leptonic decay signatures. The considered final states require two same-charge leptons or three leptons, while vetoing three-lepton same-flavour topologies. No significant excess over the expected Standard Model backgrounds is found, leading to constraints on the heavy neutral lepton’s mixing with muon and electron neutrinos for heavy neutral-lepton masses. The analysis excludes |Ue|2 values above 8x10-5 and |Umu|2 values above 5.0x10-5 in the full mass range of 8-65 GeV. The strongest constraints are placed on heavy-neutral-lepton masses in the range 15-30 GeV of |Ue|2 < 1.1 x 10-5 and |Umu|2 < 5 x 10-6.
2026
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore PHYS-01/A - Fisica sperimentale delle interazioni fondamentali e applicazioni
English
Con Impact Factor ISI
Null, N., Aad, G., Aakvaag, E., Abbott, B., Abdelhameed, S., Abeling, K., et al. (2026). Search for heavy neutral leptons in decays of W bosons produced in 13 TeV pp collisions using prompt signatures in the ATLAS detector. EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. C, PARTICLES AND FIELDS, 86(2) [10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15191-w].
Null, N; Aad, G; Aakvaag, E; Abbott, B; Abdelhameed, S; Abeling, K; Abicht, Nj; Abidi, Sh; Aboelela, M; Aboulhorma, A; Abramowicz, H; Abulaiti, Y; Ach...espandi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/452926
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