The MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MoEDAL-MAPP) experiment is designed to expand the discovery reach of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) through comprehensive searches for feebly interacting particles (FIPs) that arise naturally in dark/hidden sector models and other extensions of the Standard Model. MoEDAL-MAPP probes dark sectors through direct searches for FIPs coupled to SM particles
via minimal couplings; such interactions involving new messenger fields are often referred to as portal interactions. The first phase of the MoEDAL-MAPP experiment (MAPP-1) was approved by the CERN Research Board in December 2021 for installation on the LHC ring for Run-3 operation. MAPP-1 is primarily designed to search for minicharged particles; however, it also has sensitivity to long-lived neutral and charged particles. Additionally, the LHC Experiments Committee is currently reviewing the MAPP Outrigger —an auxiliary detector aimed at enhancing the overall acceptance of the MAPP-1 detector. The second phase of the MoEDAL-MAPP experiment (MAPP-2), which targets displaced-vertex signatures of long-lived neutral FIPs decaying to visible final states, is currently in the research and development phase. In this seminar, I present the latest results from MoEDAL-MAPP’s physics program: First, focusing on MAPP-1’s flagship benchmark scenario involving minicharged particles arising from vector-portal kinetic mixing, our recent comprehensive analysis demonstrates that MAPP-1 exhibits leading sensitivity at the LHC’s current operational run. Improvements in these sensitivity projections based on our new results for the MAPP Outrigger are showcased thereafter. Finally, I present our updated analysis of the sensitivities of MAPP-1 and MAPP-2 to light CP-even Standard Model gauge-singlet dark scalars produced through the minimal Higgs-portal scenario.