Search for long-lived heavy charged particles using a ring imaging Cherenkov technique at LHCb

A search is performed for heavy long-lived charged particles using 3.0 fb\(^{-1}\) of pp collisions collected at \(\sqrt{s}\)= 7 and 8 TeV with the LHCb detector. The search is mainly based on the response of the ring imaging Cherenkovdetectors to distinguish the heavy, slow-moving particles from muons. No evidence is found for the production of such long-lived states. The results are expressed as limits on the Drell-Yan production of pairs of long-lived particles, with both particles in the LHCb pseudorapidity acceptance, \(1.8 < \eta < 4.9\). The mass-dependent cross-section upper limits are in the range 2-4 fb (at 95\% CL) for masses between 124 and 309 GeV/c\(^2\).