Search for the lepton flavor violating decay τ → 3μ in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract

Results are reported from a search for the lepton flavor violating decay τ → 3μ in proton-proton collisions at (\sqrt{s}) = 13 TeV. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 33.2 fb⁻¹ recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016. The search exploits τ leptons produced in both W boson and heavy-flavor hadron decays. No significant excess above the expected background is observed. An upper limit on the branching fraction ℬ(τ → 3μ) of 8.0 × 10(^{−8}) at 90% confidence level is obtained, with an expected upper limit of 6.9 × 10(^{−8}).

Description
Keywords
High Energy Physics - Experiment, Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments), Lepton production, Tau Physics
Citation
Sirunyan, A. M., Tumasyan, A., Adam, W., Ambrogi, F., Bergauer, T., Dragicevic, M., Erö, J., Escalante Del Valle, A., Frühwirth, R., Jeitler, M., Krammer, N., Lechner, L., Liko, D., Madlener, T., Mikulec, I., Pitters, F. M., Rad, N., Schieck, J., … Vetens, W. (2021). Search for the lepton flavor violating decay τ → 3μ in proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{\mathrm{s}} $ = 13 TeV. In Journal of High Energy Physics (Vol. 2021, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep01(2021)163