BSM Targets at a "Target-less DUNE"

Abstract

In this work we demonstrate that a future accelerator-based neutrino experiment such as DUNE can greatly increase its sensitivity to a variety of new physics scenarios by operating in a mode where the proton beam impinges on a beam dump. We consider two new physics scenarios, namely light dark matter (LDM) and axion-like particles (ALPs) and show that by utilizing a dump mode at a DUNE-like experiment, unexplored new regions of parameter space can be probed with an exposure of only 3 months with half of its expected initial beam power. Specifically, target-less configuration of future high intensity neutrino experiments will probe the parameter space for thermal relic DM as well as the QCD axion (DFSZ and KSVZ). The strength of such configuration in the context of new physics searches stems from the fact that the neutrino flux is significantly reduced compared to that of the target, resulting in much smaller backgrounds from neutrino interactions. We have verified this in detail by explicitly computing neutrino fluxes which we make publicly available in order to facilitate further studies with a target-less configuration.

Based on the published version on PRD

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Axion-Like Particle Production at Beam Dump Experiments with Distinct Nuclear Excitation Lines
• Up-scattering production of a sterile fermion at DUNE: complementarity with spallation source and direct detection experiments
• Sensitivity potential to a light flavor-changing scalar boson with DUNE and NA64$\mu$
• New Directions for ALP Searches Combining Nuclear Reactors and Haloscopes
• Enhancing the Sensitivity to Seesaw Predictions in Gauged $B-L$ Scenarios
• Finding BSM Needles in Electromagnetic Haystacks at DUNE
• Probing inelastic sub-GeV dark matter at the DUNE near detector