Physics at MoEDAL
The hunt of magnetic monopoles
The MoEDAL detector is deployed around the intersection region at Point 8 of the LHC in the LHCb experiment Vertex Locator cavern. It is a unique and largely passive LHC detector comprising four sub-detector systems. It combines passive nuclear track detectors with magnetic monopole trapping volumes, while spallation-product backgrounds are being monitored with an array of MediPix pixel detectors.
In addition, upgrades to the MoEDAL detector consisting of two new subdetectors: MAPP (MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles) now being prototyped at IP8; and MALL (MoEDAL Apparatus for very Long-Lived particles), will extend the reach of MoEDAL to the dark matter sector. MAPP will search for neutral long-lived particles that decay visibly in the detector and for milli-charged particles giving rise to anomalously low ionization. MALL, on the other hand, will be sensitive to decay products of new charged, massive and extremely long-lived particles, with lifetimes well in excess of a year by monitoring the MoEDAL trapping volumes.
