Limit on the Production Cross Section for Massive Leptons

Abstract

We have searched for heavy penetrating particles produced in nucleon-nucleon interactions with incident energies between 30 and 300 GeV. From a study of the transverse-momentum range between 1.0 and 2.25 GeV/c at a laboratory angle of 91 mrad, we conclude that the Lorentz-invariant production cross section is less than 6.4×${10}^{-35\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ GeV/${(\mathrm{G}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}/\mathit{c})}^3$ for stable particles in the mass range 1 to 5 GeV/${\mathit{c}}^2$. For unstable particles this limit must be reduced, but because of the compact detector significant limits can still be achieved for lifetimes in the nanosecond region.