Observing a light dark matter beam with neutrino experiments

Patrick Deniverville, Maxim Pospelov, Adam Ritz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

179 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider the sensitivity of fixed-target neutrino experiments at the luminosity frontier to light stable states, such as those present in models of MeV-scale dark matter. To ensure the correct thermal relic abundance, such states must annihilate via light mediators, which in turn provide an access portal for direct production in colliders or fixed targets. Indeed, this framework endows the neutrino beams produced at fixed-target facilities with a companion "dark matter beam," which may be detected via an excess of elastic scattering events off electrons or nuclei in the (near-)detector. We study the high-luminosity proton fixed-target experiments at LSND and MiniBooNE, and determine that the ensuing sensitivity to light dark matter generally surpasses that of other direct probes. For scenarios with a kinetically-mixed U(1) vector mediator of mass mV, we find that a large volume of parameter space is excluded for mDM∼1-5MeV, covering vector masses 2mDMmVmη and a range of kinetic mixing parameters reaching as low as κ∼10-5. The corresponding MeV-scale dark matter scenarios motivated by an explanation of the galactic 511 keV line are thus strongly constrained.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number075020
JournalPhysical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Volume84
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 21 2011
Externally publishedYes

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