2014/06/30 by Wolfgang Altmannshofer, Stefania Gori, Maxim Pospelov +1 · 29 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Neutrino Physics Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ex #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.113.091801
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 091801 (2014) · 5 pages, 4 figures, v2: minor modifications, version to appear in PRL
arxiv created 2014/08/20 · openalex publication_date 2014/08/28 · arxiv updated 2014/09/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The production of a \ensuremathμ+\ensuremathμ^\ensuremath- pair from the scattering of a muon neutrino off the Coulomb field of a nucleus, known as neutrino trident production, is a subweak process that has been observed in only a couple of experiments. As such, we show that it constitutes an exquisitely sensitive probe in the search for new neutral currents among leptons, putting the strongest constraints on well-motivated and well-hidden extensions of the standard model gauge group, including the one coupled to the difference of the lepton number between the muon and tau flavor, L_\ensuremathμ\ensuremath-L_\ensuremathτ. The new gauge boson Z^\ensuremath', increases the rate of neutrino trident production by inducing additional (\ensuremathμ\ensuremathγ_\ensuremathα\ensuremathμ)(\ensuremathν\ensuremathγ^\ensuremathα\ensuremathν) interactions, which interfere constructively with the standard model contribution. Existing experimental results put significant restrictions on the parameter space of any model coupled to muon number L_\ensuremathμ, and disfavor a putative resolution to the muon g\ensuremath-2 discrepancy via the loop of Z^\ensuremath' for any mass m_Z^\ensuremath'\ensuremath\gtrsim400 MeV. The reach to the models' parameter space can be widened with future searches of the trident production at high-intensity neutrino facilities such as the LBNE.