Ionization-based search for magnetic monopoles using the NOvA Far Detector

Abubakar, S.; Acero, M.A.; Acharya, B.; Adamson, P.; Anfimov, N.; Antoshkin, A.; Arrieta-Diaz, E.; Asquith, L.; Aurisano, A.; Back, A.; Balashov, N.; Baldi, P.; Bambah, B.A.; Bannister, E.F.; Barros, A.; Barrow, J.; Bat, A.; Bezerra, T.J.C.; Bhatnagar, V.; Bhuyan, B.; Bian, J.; Booth, A.C.; Bowles, R.; Brahma, B.; Bromberg, C.; Buchanan, N.; Burns, J.; Butkevich, A.; Catano-Mur, E.; Cesar, J.P.; Chaudhary, S.; Chirco, R.; Choate, S.; Choudhary, B.C.; Chow, O.T.K.; Christensen, A.; Cicala, M.F.; Coan, T.E.; Contreras, T.; Cooleybeck, A.; Coveyou, D.; Cremonesi, L.; Davies, G.S.; Derwent, P.F.; Ding, P.; Dever, K.; Djurcic, Z.; Dobbs, K.; Tonguino, D.; Dukes, E.C.; Ehrlich, R.; Ewart, E.; Filip, P.; Frank, M.J.; Gallagher, H.R.; Giri, A.; Gomes, R.A.; Goodman, M.C.; Group, R.; Gusmão, A.; Habig, A.; Hakl, F.; Hartnell, J.; Hatcher, R.; Hays, J.M.; He, M.; Heller, K.; Hewes, V.; Himmel, A.; Horoho, T.; Huang, X.; Ivanova, A.; Jargowsky, B.; Kakorin, I.; Kalitkina, A.; Kaplan, D.M.; Khanam, A.; Kirezli, B.; Kleykamp, J.; Klimov, O.; Koerner, L.W.; Kolupaeva, L.; Kralik, R.; Kumar, A.; Kuruppu, C.D.; Kus, V.; Lackey, T.; Lang, K.; Lesmeister, J.; Lister, A.; Lock, J.A.; Magill, S.; Mann, W.A.; Manoharan, M.T.; Plata, M.; Marathe, A.; Marshak, M.L.; Martinez-Casales, M.; Matveev, V.; Medhi, A.; Mehta, B.; Messier, M.D.; Meyer, H.; Miao, T.; Mikola, V.; Mishra, S.R.; Mohanta, R.; Moren, A.; Morozova, A.; Mu, W.; Mualem, L.; Muether, M.; Murthy, C.; Myers, D.; Nachtman, J.; Naples, D.; Nelson, J.K.; Neogi, O.; Nichol, R.; Niner, E.; Nixon, M.; Norman, A.; Norrick, A.; Oh, H.; Olshevskiy, A.; Olson, T.; Pal, A.; Paley, J.; Panda, L.; Patterson, R.B.; Pawloski, G.; Petti, R.; Pradhan, R.K.; Prais, L.R.; Rafique, A.; Raj, V.; Rajaoalisoa, M.; Ramson, B.; Rebel, B.; Reynolds, C.; Robles, E.; Roy, P.; Sagar, D.; Samoylov, O.; Sanchez, M.C.; Falero, S.; Shanahan, P.; Sharma, P.; Sheshukov, A.; Shmakov, A.; Shorrock, W.; Shukla, S.; Singh, I.; Singh, P.; Singh, V.; Chhibra, S.; Smolik, J.; Snopok, P.; Solomey, N.; Sousa, A.; Soustruznik, K.; Strait, M.; Sullivan, C.; Suter, L.; Sutton, A.; Sutton, K.; Swain, S.K.; Sztuc, A.; Talukdar, N.; Tas, P.; Thomas, J.; TIRAŞ, EMRAH; Titus, M.; Torun, Y.; Tran, D.; Trokan-Tenorio, J.; Urheim, J.; Utt, B.; Vahle, P.; Vallari, Z.; Vockerodt, K.J.; Waldron, A.V.; Wallbank, M.; Weber, C.; Wetstein, M.; Whittington, D.; Wickremasinghe, D.A.; Wolcott, J.; Wu, S.; Wu, W.; Xiao, Y.; Yaeggy, B.; Yahaya, A.; Yankelevich, A.; Yonehara, K.; Zadorozhnyy, S.; Zalesak, J.; Zhao, L.; Zwaska, R.

doi:10.1103/spfn-hnhv

Ionization-based search for magnetic monopoles using the NOvA Far Detector

Abubakar S., Acero M., Acharya B., Adamson P., Anfimov N., Antoshkin A., ...Daha Fazla

Physical Review D, cilt.113, sa.11, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
Cilt numarası: 113 Sayı: 11
Basım Tarihi: 2026
Doi Numarası: 10.1103/spfn-hnhv
Dergi Adı: Physical Review D
Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core, INSPEC, MathSciNet, zbMATH
Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We report a search for highly ionizing magnetic monopoles in the cosmic-ray flux using a 2713-day dataset collected during 2015–2025 with the NOvA Far Detector, a 14-kt segmented detector located on Earth’s surface in Minnesota, United States. The search is sensitive to monopoles across a wide range of speeds, 7 × 10−4 < β < 0.995, and is sensitive to masses as low as 2 × 105 GeV for the fastest monopoles. No signal was observed. With the detector’s large surface area and minimal overburden, we achieve the strongest flux limits reported to date in several regions of speed and mass. For heavy monopoles with masses above 1013 GeV that are able to reach the detector from above or—crossing Earth—from below, we find a flux limit ϕ90% < 2 × 10−16 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 (90% confidence level) for monopoles with 0.005 < β < 0.8. Across the same range of speeds, we report a limit ϕ90% < 8 × 10−16 cm−2 s−1 sr−1 for light monopoles with masses above 108 GeV that can reach the detector from above.