Dark Sector Physics at High-Intensity Experiments [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.04671


Is Dark Matter part of a Dark Sector? The possibility of a dark sector neutral under Standard Model (SM) forces furnishes an attractive explanation for the existence of Dark Matter (DM), and is a compelling new-physics direction to explore in its own right, with potential relevance to fundamental questions as varied as neutrino masses, the hierarchy problem, and the Universe’s matter-antimatter asymmetry. Because dark sectors are generically weakly coupled to ordinary matter, and because they can naturally have MeV-to-GeV masses and respect the symmetries of the SM, they are only mildly constrained by high-energy collider data and precision atomic measurements. Yet upcoming and proposed intensity-frontier experiments will offer an unprecedented window into the physics of dark sectors, highlighted as a Priority Research Direction in the 2018 Dark Matter New Initiatives (DMNI) BRN report. Support for this program — in the form of dark-sector analyses at multi-purpose experiments, realization of the intensity-frontier experiments receiving DMNI funds, an expansion of DMNI support to explore the full breadth of DM and visible final-state signatures (especially long-lived particles) called for in the BRN report, and support for a robust dark-sector theory effort — will enable comprehensive exploration of low-mass thermal DM milestones, and greatly enhance the potential of intensity-frontier experiments to discover dark-sector particles decaying back to SM particles.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Gori, M. Williams, P. Ilten, et. al.
Tue, 13 Sep 22
15/85

Comments: Report of the RF6 Topical Group for Snowmass 2021