Search for excited electrons in ep collisions at HERA


Aaron F., Alexa C., Andreev V., Antunovic B., Aplin S., Asmone A., ...More

Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics, vol.666, no.2, pp.131-139, 2008 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

Abstract

A search for excited electrons is performed using the full e ± p data sample collected by the H1 experiment at HERA, corresponding to a total luminosity of 475 pb -1. The electroweak decays of excited electrons e * → e γ, e * → e Z and e * → ν W with subsequent hadronic or leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons are considered. No evidence for excited electron production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits on e * production cross sections and on the ratio f / Λ of the coupling to the compositeness scale are derived within gauge mediated models. These limits extend the excluded region compared to previous excited electron searches. The e * production via contact interactions is also addressed for the first time in ep collisions. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.