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Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN

CMS-PAS-EXO-19-006
Search for fractionally charged particles in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}= $ 13 TeV
Abstract: Every known charged particle has an electric charge that is a multiple of 1/3e. In the absence of a mechanism to explain this quantization, particles with other charges may exist as well. In particular, only weak constraints have been set on the existence of free-propagating particles with charge below 1e and mass accessible at the LHC. A search is presented for fractionally charged particles using energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to suppress backgrounds. Using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the CMS experiment, masses up to 636 GeV and charges as low as 1/2e are excluded at 95% confidence level.
CMS Publications
Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN