Dark sectors in neutron-shining-through-a-wall and nuclear absorption signals

Matheus Hostert; David McKeen; Maxim Pospelov; Nirmal Raj

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.107.075034

paper

Dark sectors in neutron-shining-through-a-wall and nuclear absorption signals

arXiv:2201.02603 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.107.075034

Abstract

We propose new searches for $n^{'}$ , a dark baryon that can mix with the Standard Model neutron. We show that IsoDAR, a proposal to place an intense cyclotron near a large-volume neutrino detector deep underground, can look for $n \to n^{'} \to n$ transitions with much lower backgrounds than surface experiments. This opportune neutron-shining-through-a-wall search would be possible without any modifications to the primary goals of the experiment and would provide the strongest laboratory constraints on the $n$ - $n^{'}$ mixing for a wide range of mass splitting. We also consider dark neutrons as dark matter and show that their nuclear absorption at deep-underground detectors such as SNO and Borexino places some of the strongest limits in parameter space. Finally, we describe other $n^{'}$ signatures, such as neutrons shining through walls at spallation sources, reactors, and the disappearance of ultracold neutrons.

arXiv comment16 pages, 2 figures, matches published version

Dark sectors in neutron-shining-through-a-wall and nuclear absorption signals

Abstract

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