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arxiv: 2606.24486 · v1 · pith:KCPY6EUEnew · submitted 2026-06-23 · ✦ hep-ph

Reinterpretation of ATLAS and CMS searches in monojet and mono-V final states: prospects of limits on excited neutrinos

Gabriela Karkosova Martinovicova , Vojtech Pleskot This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-06-25 23:34 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification ✦ hep-ph
keywords excited neutrinosmonojet searchesmono-V searchesATLASCMSbeyond Standard Modelcompositenessmissing transverse momentum
0
0 comments X

The pith

Reinterpreting ATLAS and CMS monojet and mono-V searches sets limits on excited-neutrino masses up to 4 TeV.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper applies existing ATLAS and CMS searches for a jet or hadronically decaying vector boson plus large missing transverse momentum to models containing excited neutrinos. Published signal-region definitions, background estimates, and observed yields are combined with new simulations of excited-neutrino production and decay to extract upper limits on the signal cross section as a function of mass. The monojet searches exclude masses around 4 TeV in standard benchmark points, while the mono-V searches add reach in the region of strong electroweak couplings and excited-neutrino masses well below the compositeness scale. A sympathetic reader would care because the work shows how already-collected data can directly constrain composite-fermion scenarios without new detector runs.

Core claim

By feeding simulated excited-neutrino events into the published ATLAS and CMS monojet and mono-V selections at 13 TeV, the paper obtains cross-section limits that exclude excited-neutrino masses up to approximately 4 TeV for representative benchmark scenarios from the monojet channel; the mono-V channel supplies complementary constraints on the portion of parameter space with large couplings to Standard Model electroweak bosons and low excited-neutrino masses relative to the compositeness scale.

What carries the argument

Reinterpretation of published monojet and mono-V signal regions using simulated excited-neutrino signals to derive mass-dependent cross-section limits.

If this is right

  • Monojet searches alone exclude excited-neutrino masses up to approximately 4 TeV in representative benchmark scenarios.
  • Mono-V searches constrain the complementary region of large couplings to electroweak bosons and low excited-neutrino masses relative to the compositeness scale.
  • The limits are obtained directly from published selections, post-fit backgrounds, and observed yields without requiring new experimental data.
  • The approach demonstrates that existing missing-momentum searches already probe a wide class of beyond-Standard-Model scenarios involving excited fermions.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • Similar reinterpretations could be performed for other composite-fermion models using the same public signal regions.
  • Dedicated analyses optimized for the mono-V topology might extend sensitivity at lower masses where the current limits are weaker.
  • If the compositeness scale lies close to the excited-neutrino mass, the relative importance of the mono-V channel would increase.

Load-bearing premise

The simulated excited-neutrino signal samples accurately reproduce the kinematics, acceptance, and efficiency in the published ATLAS and CMS signal regions.

What would settle it

An excess of events in the monojet or mono-V signal regions that exceeds the upper limit on the excited-neutrino cross section derived from the simulation would falsify the reported exclusions.

read the original abstract

Searches for final states with large missing transverse momentum recoiling against a jet or a hadronically decaying vector boson provide strong constraints on a wide class of physics scenarios beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we reinterpret existing ATLAS and CMS monojet and mono-$V$ searches at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV in the context of excited-neutrino production. Published signal-region selections, post-fit background estimates, and observed event yields are used with simulated excited-neutrino signals to derive upper limits on the production cross-section as a function of the excited-neutrino mass. The monojet searches allow excited-neutrino masses of up to approximately 4 TeV to be excluded for representative benchmark scenarios. Mono-$V$ searches provide constraints on the parameter space region with large couplings to the SM electroweak gauge bosons and low excited-neutrino masses compared to the compositeness scale. This is complementary to the region probed by the monojet searches.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

1 major / 0 minor

Summary. The manuscript reinterprets published ATLAS and CMS monojet and mono-V searches at √s=13 TeV for excited-neutrino production. Published signal-region selections, post-fit background estimates, and observed yields are combined with privately simulated excited-neutrino signal samples to derive upper limits on the production cross section versus excited-neutrino mass. The central claim is that monojet searches exclude masses up to approximately 4 TeV for representative benchmark scenarios, while mono-V searches provide complementary constraints at lower masses and larger electroweak couplings.

Significance. If the simulation accurately reproduces kinematics and efficiencies, the work supplies new, model-specific exclusion limits on excited neutrinos that extend the mass reach of existing data and occupy a complementary region of parameter space. The reuse of published experimental results and yields is a clear strength, enabling reproducible reinterpretation without new experimental effort.

major comments (1)
  1. [signal simulation and event selection] The 4 TeV mass exclusion in the monojet channel (abstract) is obtained by applying published selections to simulated signal events. No validation of the generator, parton shower, or detector response against published signal efficiencies or control-region closure is described, so the systematic uncertainty on acceptance/efficiency—and therefore on the quoted mass reach—remains unquantified. This assumption is load-bearing for the strongest claim.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

1 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the detailed review and for identifying a key point regarding the robustness of our signal simulation. We address the major comment below and will incorporate revisions to strengthen the presentation of uncertainties.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [signal simulation and event selection] The 4 TeV mass exclusion in the monojet channel (abstract) is obtained by applying published selections to simulated signal events. No validation of the generator, parton shower, or detector response against published signal efficiencies or control-region closure is described, so the systematic uncertainty on acceptance/efficiency—and therefore on the quoted mass reach—remains unquantified. This assumption is load-bearing for the strongest claim.

    Authors: We agree that the manuscript would benefit from an explicit discussion of simulation-related uncertainties. The excited-neutrino signal samples were generated with standard tools (MadGraph5_aMC@NLO + Pythia 8 + Delphes) and the published signal-region selections were applied directly; no dedicated validation against published efficiencies was performed because the original ATLAS/CMS analyses target different BSM models (e.g., dark matter or large extra dimensions) and therefore do not provide signal efficiencies for excited neutrinos. Control-region closure tests in the experimental papers apply to backgrounds, not to our signal. To address the concern we will add a dedicated subsection that (i) describes the generator settings, (ii) reports the effect of reasonable variations in parton-shower and matching parameters on the acceptance, and (iii) assigns a conservative systematic uncertainty to the quoted mass reach. These additions will be included in the revised manuscript. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity detected in derivation chain

full rationale

The paper derives upper limits on excited-neutrino production cross sections by taking published ATLAS/CMS signal-region selections, post-fit background estimates, and observed yields as fixed external inputs and applying them to privately generated signal Monte Carlo samples. No equation, limit, or mass reach reduces by construction to a parameter fitted inside the paper, no result is renamed as a prediction of itself, and no load-bearing premise rests on a self-citation chain. The simulation accuracy assumption is an external modeling choice, not a self-definitional loop, so the central claim remains independent of the paper's own fitted quantities.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

Abstract-only review; no explicit free parameters, axioms, or invented entities are stated beyond the standard assumption that excited neutrinos exist in the model being tested. No independent evidence for new entities is provided.

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discussion (0)

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Reference graph

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