Light dark bosons in the JUNO-TAO neutrino detector


Abstract in English

This work presents a sensitivity study of a reactor liquid scintillator detector to three kinds of dark bosons with masses below 1 MeV, such as dark photons, axion-like particles and light scalar bosons. The JUNO-TAO detector with Taishan nuclear reactor is taken as a reference. With proposed 180 days data taking, the sensitivity to the dark bosons can reach $sim10^{-5}$ 95%C.L. for the optimized signal to background ratio for the electron coupling constant $it{g_X} $ through inverse Compton-like scattering. The background systematic uncertainty presents as the main limiting factor for the further sensitivity improvement. Additionally the differential and the inverse differential cross sections have been derived for all three boson types and their interactions with electrons in liquid scintillator.

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