No Arabic abstract
We perform a feasibility study of a beam dump experiment at the International Linear Collider (ILC). To investigate the sensitivity to new light particles at the experiment, we consider models for axion-like particles (ALPs) and a light scalar particle coupled to charged leptons. For both models, we show that the detection sensitivity is almost an order of magnitude higher than other beam dump experiments in the small coupling region. For ALPs, it is shown that the ILC beam dump experiment is highly complementary to bounds from astrophysics. In addition, for the model of the scalar particle, the region favored by the muon $g-2$ experiment can be explored.
There are broadly three channels to probe axion-like particles (ALPs) produced in the laboratory: through their subsequent decay to Standard Model (SM) particles, their scattering with SM particles, or their subsequent conversion to photons. Decay and scattering are the most commonly explored channels in beam-dump type experiments, while conversion has typically been utilized by light-shining-through-wall (LSW) experiments. A new class of experiments, dubbed PASSAT (Particle Accelerator helioScopes for Slim Axion-like-particle deTection), has been proposed to make use of the ALP-to-photon conversion in a novel way: ALPs, after being produced in a beam-dump setup, turn into photons in a magnetic field placed near the source. It has been shown that such hybrid beam-dump-helioscope experiments can probe regions of parameter space that have not been investigated by other laboratory-based experiments, hence providing complementary information; in particular, they probe a fundamentally different region than decay or LSW experiments. We propose the implementation of PASSAT in future neutrino experiments, taking a DUNE-like experiment as an example. We demonstrate that the magnetic field in the planned DUNE multi-purpose detector is already capable of probing the ALP-photon coupling down to $g_{agammagamma} sim {rm few}times 10^{-5}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for ALP masses $m_a lesssim 10$ eV. The implementation of a CAST or BabyIAXO-like magnet would improve the sensitivity down to $g_{agammagamma} sim 10^{-6}$ GeV$^{-1}$.
We investigate features of the sterile neutrinos in the presence of a light gauge boson $X^mu$ that couples to the neutrino sector. The novel bounds on the active-sterile neutrino mixings $| U_{ell 4} |^2$, especially for tau flavor ($l = tau$), from various collider and fixed target experiments are explored. Also, taking into account the additional decay channel of the sterile neutrino into a light gauge boson ($ u_4 to u_ell e^+ e^-$), we explore and constrain a parameter space for low energy excess in neutrino oscillation experiments.
A wealth of new physics models which are motivated by questions such as the nature of dark matter, the origin of the neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry in the universe, predict the existence of hidden sectors featuring new particles. Among the possibilities are heavy neutral leptons, vectors and scalars, that feebly interact with the Standard Model (SM) sector and are typically light and long lived. Such new states could be produced in high-intensity facilities, the so-called beam dump experiments, either directly in the hard interaction or as a decay product of heavier mesons. They could then decay back to the SM or to hidden sector particles, giving rise to peculiar decay or interaction signatures in a far-placed detector. Simulating such kind of events presents a challenge, as not only short-distance new physics (hard production, hadron decays, and interaction with the detector) and usual SM phenomena need to be described but also the travel has to be accounted for as determined by the geometry of the detector. In this work, we describe a new plugin to the {sc MadGraph5_aMC@NLO} platform, which allows the complete simulation of new physics processes relevant for beam dump experiments, including the various mechanisms for the production of hidden particles, namely their decays or scattering off SM particles, as well as their far detection, keeping into account spatial correlations and the geometry of the experiment.
We investigate the possibility of the identification of TeV physics models including WIMP dark matter at the International Linear Collider. Many TeV physics models contain a WIMP dark matter (chi^0) and charged new particle (chi^{pm}) which interacts with the WIMP dark matter via the vertex chi^{pm} chi^0 W^{mp}. Through Monte Carlo simulations, we study the process, e^+e^- to chi^+ chi^- to chi^0 chi^0 W^+ W^-, because the signal contains the fruitful information of the model. We show that, in particular, the distribution of the chi^{pm} production angle is the powerful probe in the TeV physics model search.
A novel mechanism to produce and detect Light Dark Matter in experiments making use of GeV electrons (and positrons) impinging on a thick target (beam-dump) is proposed. The positron-rich environment produced by the electromagnetic shower allows to produce an $A^prime$ via non-resonant ($e^+ + e^- to gamma + A^prime$) and resonant ($e^+ + e^- to A^prime$) annihilation on atomic electrons. The latter mechanism, for some selected kinematics, results in a larger sensitivity with respect to limits derived by the commonly used $A^prime-strahlung$. This idea, applied to Beam Dump Experiments and {it active} Beam Dump Experiments pushes down the current limits by an order of magnitude.