Search for Excited Electrons at HERA

Abstract

A search for excited electron e* production is described in which the electroweak decays e*->e gamma, e*->e Z and e*->nu W are considered. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 120 pb^(-1) taken in e^(+-)p collisions from 1994 to 2000 with the H1 detector at HERA at centre-of-mass energies of 300 and 318 GeV. No evidence for a signal is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits are derived for the ratio of the couplings to the compositeness scale, f/Lambda. These limits extend the excluded region to higher masses than has been possible in previous direct searches for excited electrons.