Quirk SUEP

Abstract

We propose searching for physics beyond the Standard Model in the low-transverse-momentum tracks accompanying hard-scatter events at the LHC. TeV-scale resonances connected to a dark QCD sector could be enhanced by selecting events with anomalies in the track distributions. As a benchmark, a quirk model with microscopic string lengths is developed, including a setup for event simulation. For this model, strategies are presented to enhance the sensitivity compared to inclusive resonance searches: a simple cut-based selection, a supervised search, and a model-agnostic weakly supervised anomaly search with the CATHODE method. Expected discovery potentials and exclusion limits are shown for 140 fb$^{-1}$ of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC.