The MoEDAL Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

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The MoEDAL experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) started data taking in 2015, at the start of LHC's Run2. MoEDAL is a pioneering experiment designed to search for highly ionizing avatars of new physics such as magnetic monopoles, multiply electrically charged particles, or massive (pseudo) stable charged particles. MoEDAL's physics program defines over 34 scenarios that may yield potentially revolutionary insights into foundational questions, involving: extra dimensions or new symmetries; magnetic charge; and, the nature of dark matter. The MoEDAL Collaboration, led by the University of Alberta (UofA), consists of 70 physicists from 26 institutes around the world. The experiment's discovery potential expands the LHC's physics horizons, in a complementary way. To date, MoEDAL has established the world's best limits on the existence of multiply magnetically charged monopoles and highly electrically charged particles (in prep). Last year, MoEDAL presented a Notice of Intent (NoI) to the LHC Committee (LHCC), to request an additional 30 fb-1 of data during LHC's Run3, starting in 2020. MoEDAL's NoI was well received, leading the way for the full request this year. In addition, MAPP (MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles), a new MoEDAL sub-detector, planned for deployment for Run3, will extend MoEDAL's physics reach allowing the search for milli-charged particles and new very long-lived neutral particles.******The MoEDAL detector has a dual nature. First, it acts like a giant camera, comprised of Nuclear Track Detectors (NTDs) analyzed offline by ultra fast scanning optical microscope. The NTDs are calibrated using heavy-ion at various facilities. Second, it is uniquely able to trap the particle messengers of new physics for further study. The third sub-detector system is a TimePix pixel device array (TMPX), consisting of ~8 devices distributed throughout the MoEDAL cavern at IP8. TMPX is used to monitor beam related backgrounds. The MoEDAL NTD and MMT arrays are passive requiring no readout electronics or trigger. The real time TimePix system is readout over the web. Although there are no requirements for the experiment to be constantly manned the sensitive elements of the MoEDAL detector need to be replaced once a year. The NTD detectors are sent for analysis at INFN Bologna and the University of Helsinki. The exposed MMT trapping volumes are sent to the ETH Zurich SQUID Facility to be scanned for the presence of trapped monopoles. **