Collider constraints on axion-like particles

Abstract

The current status and future prospects of searches for axion-like particles (ALPs) at colliders, mostly focused on the CERN LHC, are summarized. Constraints on ALPs with masses above a few GeV that couple to photons, as well as to Z or Higgs bosons, have been set at the LHC through searches for new $a\to\gamma\gamma$ resonances in di-, tri-, and four-photon final states. Inclusive and exclusive diphotons in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions, pp, PbPb $\to a \to \gamma\gamma (+X)$, as well as exotic Z and Higgs boson decays, pp $\to \mathrm{Z},\mathrm{H}\to a\gamma \to 3\gamma$ and pp $\to \mathrm{H}\to aa \to 4\gamma$, have been analyzed. Exclusive searches in PbPb collisions provide the best exclusion limits for ALP masses $m_a\approx 5-$100 GeV, whereas the other channels are the most competitive ones over $m_a\approx 100$ GeV$-$2.6 TeV. Integrated ALP production cross sections up to $\sim$100 nb are excluded at 95% confidence level, corresponding to constraints on axion-photon couplings down to $g_{a\gamma}\approx$ 0.05 TeV$^{-1}$, over broad mass ranges. Factors of 10$-$100 improvements in these limits are expected at the LHC approaching $g_{a\gamma}\approx 10^{-3}$ TeV$^{-1}$ over $m_a\approx 1$ GeV$-$5 TeV in the next decade.