Searching for dark radiation at the LHC

Bernreuther, Elias; Kahlhoefer, Felix; Lucente, Michele; Morandini, Alessandro

doi:10.1007/jhep08(2022)169

Title: Searching for dark radiation at the LHC

Abstract

In this work we explore the intriguing connections between searches for long-lived particles (LLPs) at the LHC and early universe cosmology. We study the non-thermal production of ultra-relativistic particles (i.e. dark radiation) in the early universe via the decay of weak-scale LLPs and show that the cosmologically interesting range ΔN_eff ~ 0.01–0.1 corresponds to LLP decay lengths in the mm to cm range. These decay lengths lie at the boundary between prompt and displaced signatures at the LHC and can be comprehensively explored by combining searches for both. To illustrate this point, we consider a scenario where the LLP decays into a charged lepton and a (nearly) massless invisible particle. By reinterpreting searches for promptly decaying sleptons and for displaced leptons at both ATLAS and CMS we can then directly compare LHC exclusions with cosmological observables. We find that the CMB-S4 target value of ΔN_eff = 0.06 is already excluded by current LHC searches and even smaller values can be probed for LLP masses at the electroweak scale.

Authors:

Bernreuther, Elias ^[1]; Kahlhoefer, Felix ^[2]; Lucente, Michele ^[3];

^[3]

Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
RWTH Aachen Univ. (Germany). Inst. for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK); Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany). Inst. fur Theoretische Teilchenphysik
RWTH Aachen Univ. (Germany). Inst. for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK)

Publication Date:: Thu Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2022

Research Org.:: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); German Research Foundation (DFG)

OSTI Identifier:: 1867670

Report Number(s):: TTK-22-13; TTP22-018; P3H-22-032; FERMILAB-PUB-22-238-T; arXiv:2204.01759
Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479; oai:inspirehep.net:2063394; TRN: US2306209

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11359; 396021762-TRR 25; KA 4662/1-1

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online); Journal Volume: 2022; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479

Publisher:: Springer Nature

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Early universe particle physics; new light particles; cosmology of theories beyond standard model

Citation Formats


                    Bernreuther, Elias, Kahlhoefer, Felix, Lucente, Michele, and Morandini, Alessandro. Searching for dark radiation at the LHC.  United States: N. p., 2022. 
Web.  doi:10.1007/jhep08(2022)169.

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                    Bernreuther, Elias, Kahlhoefer, Felix, Lucente, Michele, & Morandini, Alessandro. Searching for dark radiation at the LHC.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep08(2022)169

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                    Bernreuther, Elias, Kahlhoefer, Felix, Lucente, Michele, and Morandini, Alessandro. Thu .  
"Searching for dark radiation at the LHC".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep08(2022)169.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1867670.

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@article{osti_1867670,

  title        = {Searching for dark radiation at the LHC},

  author       = {Bernreuther, Elias and Kahlhoefer, Felix and Lucente, Michele and Morandini, Alessandro},

  abstractNote = {In this work we explore the intriguing connections between searches for long-lived particles (LLPs) at the LHC and early universe cosmology. We study the non-thermal production of ultra-relativistic particles (i.e. dark radiation) in the early universe via the decay of weak-scale LLPs and show that the cosmologically interesting range ΔNeff ~ 0.01–0.1 corresponds to LLP decay lengths in the mm to cm range. These decay lengths lie at the boundary between prompt and displaced signatures at the LHC and can be comprehensively explored by combining searches for both. To illustrate this point, we consider a scenario where the LLP decays into a charged lepton and a (nearly) massless invisible particle. By reinterpreting searches for promptly decaying sleptons and for displaced leptons at both ATLAS and CMS we can then directly compare LHC exclusions with cosmological observables. We find that the CMB-S4 target value of ΔNeff = 0.06 is already excluded by current LHC searches and even smaller values can be probed for LLP masses at the electroweak scale.},

  doi          = {10.1007/jhep08(2022)169},

  journal      = {Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)},

  number       = 8,

  volume       = 2022,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2022},

  month        = {Thu Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2022}

}

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Title: Searching for dark radiation at the LHC

Abstract

Citation Formats

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journal, October 2002

Probing dark matter freeze-in with long-lived particle signatures: MATHUSLA, HL-LHC and FCC-hh
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A Step in understanding the Hubble tension
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