Dark matter signals from timing spectra at neutrino experiments

Abstract

We propose a novel strategy to search for new physics in timing spectra, envisioning the situation in which a new particle comes from the decay of its heavier partner with a finite particle width. The timing distribution of events induced by the dark matter particle scattering at the detector may populate in a relatively narrow range, forming a "resonance-like" shape. Due to this structural feature, the signal may be isolated from the backgrounds, in particular when the backgrounds are uniformly distributed in energy and time. For proof of the principle, we investigate the discovery potential for dark matter from the decay of a dark photon in the COHERENT experiment, and show the exciting prospects for exploring the associated parameter space with this experiment. We analyze the existing CsI detector data with a timing cut and an energy cut, and find, for the first time, an excess in the timing distribution which can be explained by such dark matter. We compare the sensitivity to the kinetic mixing parameter ($\epsilon$) for current and future COHERENT experiments with the projected limits from LDMX and DUNE.

arXiv comment8 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, to appear in PRL

References in corpus (34)

• Dark Matter Search Results from a One Tonne$\times$Year Exposure of XENON1T
• Secluded WIMP Dark Matter
• Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
• Status of non-standard neutrino interactions
• Implications of Generalized Z-Z' Mixing
• Study of the decay K+ => pi+,nu,nubar in the momentum region 140<Ppi<199 MeV/c
• Non standard neutrino interactions
• Dark matter search in missing energy events with NA64
• Kinetic Mixing as the Origin of Light Dark Scales
• Constraining Light Dark Matter with Low-Energy e+e- Colliders
• Muon g-2, Rare Kaon Decays, and Parity Violation from Dark Bosons
• Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering and new Neutrino Interactions
• COHERENT constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions
• Dark forces coupled to non-conserved currents
• COHERENT analysis of neutrino generalized interactions
• A COHERENT enlightenment of the neutrino Dark Side
• A Natural Supersymmetric Model with MeV Dark Matter
• Average CsI neutron density distribution from COHERENT data
• Probing neutrino coupling to a light scalar with coherent neutrino scattering
• Curtailing the Dark Side in Non-Standard Neutrino Interactions
• Prospects for exploring New Physics in Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
• Light new physics in coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments
• Probing light sterile neutrino signatures at reactor and Spallation Neutron Source neutrino experiments
• Constraining nuclear physics parameters with current and future COHERENT data
• Impact of form factor uncertainties on interpretations of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering data
• Galactic 511 keV line from MeV millicharged dark matter
• Producing a new Fermion in Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering: from Neutrino Mass to Dark Matter
• Searching for Beyond the Standard Model Physics with COHERENT Energy and Timing Data
• Hunting On- and Off-Axis for Light Dark Matter with DUNE-PRISM
• Accelerator and reactor complementarity in coherent neutrino scattering
• Constraining Photon Portal Dark Matter with Texono and Coherent Data
• A sub-GeV dark matter model
• Extracting nuclear form factors with coherent neutrino scattering
• Neutrino scattering and B anomalies from hidden sector portals

Cited by in corpus (44)

• First Measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering on Argon
• Prospects for Beyond the Standard Model Physics Searches at the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment
• Implications of the first detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) with Liquid Argon
• Physics results from the first COHERENT observation of CE$\nu$NS in argon and their combination with cesium-iodide data
• Constraints on light vector mediators through coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering data from COHERENT
• Detecting Dark Matter with Far-Forward Emulsion and Liquid Argon Detectors at the LHC
• Recent probes of standard and non-standard neutrino physics with nuclei
• Directional recoil detection
• Impact of the Dresden-II and COHERENT neutrino scattering data on neutrino electromagnetic properties and electroweak physics
• First Dark Matter Search Results From Coherent CAPTAIN-Mills
• The physics potential of a reactor neutrino experiment with Skipper CCDs: Measuring the weak mixing angle
• Determining the nuclear neutron distribution from Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering: current results and future prospects
• A Statistical Analysis of the COHERENT Data and Applications to New Physics
• Particle Physics at the European Spallation Source
• New insights into nuclear physics and weak mixing angle using electroweak probes
• New production channels for light dark matter in hadronic showers
• Consequences of the Dresden-II reactor data for the weak mixing angle and new physics
• Solutions to the MiniBooNE Anomaly from New Physics in Charged Meson Decays
• Nuclear neutron radius and weak mixing angle measurements from latest COHERENT CsI and atomic parity violation Cs data
• Discovering Dark Matter at the LHC through Its Nuclear Scattering in Far-Forward Emulsion and Liquid Argon Detectors
• Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering with directional detectors
• The hunt for sub-GeV dark matter at neutrino facilities: a survey of past and present experiments
• Constraints on light singlet fermion interactions from coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering
• The physics potential of a reactor neutrino experiment with Skipper-CCDs: Searching for new physics with light mediators
• Opportunities for probing $U(1{)}_{T3R}$ with light mediators
• Prospects for Light Dark Matter Searches at Large-Volume Neutrino Detectors
• Reactor antineutrinos CE$\nu$NS on germanium: CONUS+ and TEXONO as a new gateway to SM and BSM physics
• Optimizing Energetic Light Dark Matter Searches in Dark Matter and Neutrino Experiments
• Theoretical tools for neutrino scattering: interplay between lattice QCD, EFTs, nuclear physics, phenomenology, and neutrino event generators
• Recent Progress in Low Energy Neutrino Scattering Physics and Its Implications for the Standard and Beyond the Standard Model Physics
• Manifesting hidden dynamics of a sub-component dark matter
• COHERENT production of a dark fermion
• Inelastic nuclear scattering from neutrinos and dark matter
• Prospect of undoped inorganic crystals at 77 Kelvin for low-mass dark matter search at Spallation Neutron Source
• PASSAT at Future Neutrino Experiments: Hybrid Beam-Dump-Helioscope Facilities to Probe Light Axion-Like Particles
• Probing the dark sector with nuclear transition photons
• Joint analysis of reactor and accelerator CE$\nu$NS data on germanium: implications for the Standard Model and nuclear physics
• LEvEL: Low-Energy Neutrino Experiment at the LHC
• Explaining $g_{\mu }-2$ and $R_{K^{(\ast )}}$ using the light mediators of $U(1{)}_{T3R}$
• Simulating the neutrino flux from the Spallation Neutron Source for the COHERENT experiment
• Inelastic Dark Matter at the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino Program
• Bounds on new physics with data of the Dresden-II reactor experiment and COHERENT
• Atmospheric resonant production for light dark sectors
• Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS) event rates for Ge, Zn and Si detector materials