New strategies for long-lived particles searches at LHCb: BuSca (Buffer Scanner)
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The new fully software-based trigger of the LHCb experiment at CERN operates at a 30 MHz data rate, opening a search window into previously unexplored regions of the physics phase space. The BuSca (Buffer Scanner) project at LHCb acquires and analyses data in real time, prior to any trigger decision, extending sensitivity to new lifetimes and mass ranges thanks to the recently deployed Downstream algorithm, specifically designed to reconstruct displaced tracks that originate downstream of the vertex detector. BuSca identifies hotspots in the data indicative of potential new long-lived particle candidates in a model-independent manner, providing strategic guidance for developing new trigger lines. To control background, regions with minimal detector material interactions are selected, and pairs of same-sign tracks are used to suppress combinatorial background. In this talk, I will present the current status and future prospects of this pioneering framework, along with the results from the analysis of the first data.