We present the first detailed study of Standard Model neutrino tridents involving tau leptons at the near detectors of accelerator neutrino facilities. The rates of these processes were previously thought to be negligible, even at future facilities. Our full 2 → 4 calculation, including both coherent and incoherent scatterings, reveals that the DUNE near detector could observe a considerable number of tau tridents—an important background to new physics searches. We identify promising kinematic features that may allow distinction of tau tridents from the usual neutrino charged-current background at DUNE, and thus establish the observation of tau tridents for the first time. We also comment on the detection prospects at other accelerator and collider neutrino experiments.
Bigaran, Innes, Dev, P. S. Bhupal, Lopez Gutierrez, Diego, & Machado, Pedro A. N. (2025). Tau tridents at accelerator neutrino facilities. Physical Review. D., 111(11). https://doi.org/10.1103/54md-zlr2
Bigaran, Innes, Dev, P. S. Bhupal, Lopez Gutierrez, Diego, et al., "Tau tridents at accelerator neutrino facilities," Physical Review. D. 111, no. 11 (2025), https://doi.org/10.1103/54md-zlr2
@article{osti_3015289,
author = {Bigaran, Innes and Dev, P. S. Bhupal and Lopez Gutierrez, Diego and Machado, Pedro A. N.},
title = {Tau tridents at accelerator neutrino facilities},
annote = {We present the first detailed study of Standard Model neutrino tridents involving tau leptons at the near detectors of accelerator neutrino facilities. The rates of these processes were previously thought to be negligible, even at future facilities. Our full 2 → 4 calculation, including both coherent and incoherent scatterings, reveals that the DUNE near detector could observe a considerable number of tau tridents—an important background to new physics searches. We identify promising kinematic features that may allow distinction of tau tridents from the usual neutrino charged-current background at DUNE, and thus establish the observation of tau tridents for the first time. We also comment on the detection prospects at other accelerator and collider neutrino experiments.},
doi = {10.1103/54md-zlr2},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/3015289},
journal = {Physical Review. D.},
issn = {ISSN 2470-0029},
number = {11},
volume = {111},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Physical Society (APS)},
year = {2025},
month = {06}}
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 506, Issue 3https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(03)01368-8
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 614, Issue 1https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2009.12.009