[Submitted on 16 Jun 2025] (cross-list from hep-ph)
Deep-Inelastic Scattering at TeV Energies with LHC Muons
Reinaldo Francener🇧🇷 · Victor P. Goncalves🇧🇷 · Felix Kling🇩🇪 · Peter Krack🇳🇱 · Juan Rojo🇳🇱
The LHC far-forward experiments FASER and SND@LHC have pioneered the detection of TeV-energy neutrinos produced in hard-scattering proton-proton collisions at the LHC. In addition to neutrinos, an intense flux of TeV-energy muons reaches these detectors, representing a dominant background for both neutrino studies and beyond the Standard Model searches. Here we demonstrate that this forward muon flux enables a comprehensive neutral-current deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) program at FASER with a strong kinematical overlap with the Electron Ion Collider. For the Run 3 luminosity of ~fb, more than inclusive muon DIS events, of which up to from charm production, are expected at FASER. As a representative application, we demonstrate the sensitivity of muon DIS at FASER to probe the (intrinsic) charm content of the proton at large-. We also provide predictions for event yields of muon DIS for future FASER runs and for the proposed Forward Physics Facility.
- Comments:
- 27 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables. Version accepted for publication in EPJC
- Subjects:
- High Energy Physics — Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Physics — Experiment (hep-ex); Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
- arXiv:
- 2506.13889 [pdf]