Search for heavy neutral leptons in decays of W bosons produced in 13 TeV pp collisions using prompt signatures in the ATLAS detector
The existence of right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses below the electroweak scale could help address the origins of neutrino masses, the matter-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,...
Salvato in:
| Autori principali: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Ente Autore: | |
| Natura: | Article (Journal) |
| Lingua: | inglese |
| Pubblicazione: |
14 February 2026
|
| In: |
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields
Year: 2026, Volume: 86, Fascicolo: 2, Pages: 1-32 |
| ISSN: | 1434-6052 |
| DOI: | 10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15191-w |
| Accesso online: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15191-w
|
| Note sull'autore: | ATLAS Collaboration* |
| Riassunto: | The existence of right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses below the electroweak scale could help address the origins of neutrino masses, the matter-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 $$|U_{e}|^2$$values above $$8\times 10^{-5}$$and $$|U_{\mu }|^2$$values above $$5.0 \times 10^{-5}$$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 $$|U_{e}|^2 < 1.1 \times 10^{-5}$$and $$|U_{\mu }|^2 < 5 \times 10^{-6}$$. |
|---|---|
| Descrizione del documento: | Veröffentlicht: 14. Februar 2026 *ATLAS Collaboration: G. Aad, A. Ackermann, M.J. Backes, L.M. Baltes, F. Bartels, S. Dittmeier, M. Dunford, S. Franchino, T. Junkermann, T. Mkrtchyan, A. Nandi, L. Sanfilippo, A. Schoening, H.-C. Schultz-Coulon, V. Sothilingam, R. Stamen, L. Vigani, M. Wessels, J. Zinsser [und sehr viele weitere Personen] Gesehen am 18.06.2026 |
| Descrizione fisica: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1434-6052 |
| DOI: | 10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-15191-w |