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Title: Dark matter beams at LBNF

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
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High-intensity neutrino beam facilities may produce a beam of light dark matter when protons strike the target. Searches for such a dark matter beam using its scattering in a nearby detector must overcome the large neutrino background. We characterize the spatial and energy distributions of the dark matter and neutrino beams, focusing on their differences to enhance the sensitivity to dark matter. We find that a dark matter beam produced by a Z$$^{'}$$ boson in the GeV mass range is both broader and more energetic than the neutrino beam. The reach for dark matter is maximized for a detector sensitive to hard neutral-current scatterings, placed at a sizable angle off the neutrino beam axis. In the case of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF), a detector placed at roughly 6 degrees off axis and at a distance of about 200 m from the target would be sensitive to Z$$^{'}$$ couplings as low as 0.05. This search can proceed symbiotically with neutrino measurements. We also show that the MiniBooNE and MicroBooNE detectors, which are on Fermilab’s Booster beamline, happen to be at an optimal angle from the NuMI beam and could perform searches with existing data. As a result, this illustrates potential synergies between LBNF and the short-baseline neutrino program if the detectors are positioned appropriately.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1253183
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-15-535-T; arXiv:1512.03852; 1409487
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2016, Issue 4; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 49 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

Probing light dark matter with a hadrophilic scalar mediator journal November 2019
Probing the Higgs portal at the Fermilab short-baseline neutrino experiments journal December 2019
New Constraints on Light Vectors Coupled to Anomalous Currents journal October 2017
Constraining New Physics Models with Isotope Shift Spectroscopy text January 2016
Millicharged particles in neutrino experiments text January 2018
Mono-Neutrino at DUNE: New Signals From Neutrinophilic Thermal Dark Matter text January 2019
Probing the Higgs Portal at the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Experiments text January 2019

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Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Beyond Standard Model
neutrino physics