First search for dark-trident processes using the MicroBooNE detector

2023/12/21 by MicroBooNE Collaboration, Abratenko, P., Alterkait, O. +185 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.13945

Abstract

We present a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a data set corresponding to 7.2 × 10²⁰ protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the Main Injector produce π⁰ and η mesons, which could decay into dark-matter (DM) particles mediated via a dark photon A^′. A convolutional neural network is trained to identify interactions of the DM particles in the liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) exploiting its image-like reconstruction capability. In the absence of a DM signal, we provide limits at the 90% confidence level on the squared kinematic mixing parameter ε² as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range 10≤ M_A^′≤ 400 MeV. The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles χ for two benchmark models with mass ratios M_χ/M_A^′=0.6 and 2 and for dark fine-structure constants 0.1≤α_D≤ 1.

Cited by

• Beyond-the-Standard-Model Physics in the Neutrino Sector

Related

• Improving Dark Matter Searches by Measuring the Nucleon Axial Form Factor: Perspectives from MicroBooNE
• Search for an Anomalous Excess of Single Photons in the MicroBooNE Neutrino Experiment
• Accelerator-Produced Dark Matter Search using MiniBooNE
• First Search for Dark Sector e⁺e^- Explanations of the MiniBooNE Anomaly at MicroBooNE
• First demonstration of O(1 ns) timing resolution in the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber