A search for heavy axion-like particles in light-by-light scattering at the FCC-hh

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bstract

A virtual production of heavy axion-like particles (ALPs) via light-by-light scattering in pp, pPb and Pb collisions at the future 100 TeV collider FCC-hh is studied. Both differential and total cross sections are calculated. The 95% C.L. exclusion limits, as well as 3 σ and 5 σ discovery limits on an ALP coupling constant versus ALP mass m _a are given, using integrated luminosities of 30 ab ⁻¹ , 27 pb ⁻¹ and 110 nb ⁻¹ . Our results are compared with the current LHC bounds. The strongest limit on the ALP coupling is obtained if m _a ≃ 250 GeV for the PbPb collisions, and if m _a ≃ 1 TeV for pp or pPb collisions. This suggests that the FCC-hh has a great physics potential of searching for the heavy ALPs.