Search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy long-lived multi-charged particles is performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data collected in 2012 at $\sqrt{s}$=8 TeV from $pp$ collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $20.3$ fb$^{-1}$ are examined. Particles producing anomalously high ionisation, consistent with long-lived massive particles with electric charges from $|q|=2e$ to $|q|=6e$ are searched for. No signal candidate events are observed, and 95\% confidence level cross-section upper limits are interpreted as lower mass limits for a Drell--Yan production model. The mass limits range between 660 and 785 GeV.
Comment: 17 pages plus author list + cover pages (35 pages total), 8 figures, 4 tables, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. C, All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/EXOT-2013-20/