Abstract
The search for relativistic scattering signals of cosmogenic light dark matter at terrestrial detectors has received increasing attention as an alternative approach to probe dark-sector physics. Large-volume neutrino experiments are well motivated for searches of dark matter that interacts very weakly with Standard Model particles and/or that exhibits a small incoming flux. We perform a dedicated signal sensitivity study for a detector similar to the one proposed by the DUNE Collaboration for cosmogenic dark-matter signals resulting from a non-minimal multi-particle dark-sector scenario. The liquid argon time projection chamber technology adopted for the DUNE detectors is particularly suited for searching for complicated signatures owing to good measurement resolution and particle identification, as well as dE/dx measurements to recognize merged tracks. Taking inelastic boosted dark matter as our benchmark scenario that allows for multiple visible particles in the final state, we demonstrate that the DUNE far detectors have a great potential for probing scattering signals induced by relativistic light dark matter. Detector effects and backgrounds have been estimated and taken into account. Model-dependent and model-independent expected sensitivity limits for a DUNE-like detector are presented.
Highlights
Background considerationAs mentioned earlier, it is not easy for SM processes to mimic the inelastic boosted dark matter (iBDM)-like signature in our study as depicted in figure 1
Taking inelastic boosted dark matter as our benchmark scenario that allows for multiple visible particles in the final state, we demonstrate that the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) far detectors have a great potential for probing scattering signals induced by relativistic light dark matter
We investigate in this paper the detection potential of multi-particle signals in the DUNE far detectors [25,26,27,28], taking inelastic boosted dark matter as the benchmark scenario
Summary
The dark sector contains (at least) two different dark-matter particles that are stable as a result of protection by unbroken separate symmetries such as Z2 ⊗ Z2 and U(1) ⊗ U(1) in, e.g., the model as described in ref. [1]. Standard dark-matter direct detection experiments are typically not sensitive yet to detect either χ0 or χ1 due to suppressed coupling to SM and small relic contribution, respectively. The chosen value for the present-day velocity-averaged annihilation cross section agrees with the observed dark-matter density, which is valid for BDM scenarios in which the dominant relic abundance is set by the s-wave annihilation process χ0χ0 → χ1χ1. Where is the parameter of the kinetic mixing between U(1)X and U(1)SM, and Xμν (Fμν) is the field strength tensor for the dark-sector (SM-sector) photon We here introduce another symbol χ2 to represent a heavier unstable dark-sector state, that is, the mass of χ2, m2, is larger than that of χ1, m1. We shall use m0 and E1 interchangeably throughout this paper
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