Abstract
The COHERENT experiment is well poised to test sub-GeV dark matter models using low-energy recoil detectors sensitive to coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) in the $\pi$-DAR neutrino beam produced by the Spallation Neutron Source. We show how a planned 750-kg liquid argon scintillation detector would place leading limits on scalar light dark matter models, over two orders of magnitude of dark matter mass, for dark matter particles produced through vector and leptophobic portals in the absence of other effects beyond the standard model. The characteristic timing structure of a $\pi$-DAR beam allows a unique opportunity for constraining systematic uncertainties on the standard model background in a time window where signal is not expected, enhancing expected sensitivity. Additionally, we discuss future prospects, further increasing the discovery potential of CEvNS detectors. Such methods would test the calculated thermal dark matter abundance for all couplings $\alpha'\leq1$ within the vector portal model over an order of magnitude of dark matter masses.
Highlights
Evidence from cosmology continues to strengthen the conclusion that ∼80% of the matter in the Universe is not composed of standard model (SM) particles [1]
The portal particle would subsequently decay to a pair of scalar dark matter particles, either of which may interact within a detector [2]
Dark matter direct detection experiments have made significant progress searching for a flux of thermal WIMP particles in the past decades
Summary
Evidence from cosmology continues to strengthen the conclusion that ∼80% of the matter in the Universe is not composed of standard model (SM) particles [1]. Detectors sensitive to low-energy nuclear recoils are ideal for searching for sub-GeV particles postulated as dark matter candidates [2,3,4,5]. To satisfy the Lee-Weinberg bound for the WIMP mass [7], sub-GeV dark matter models must predict a “portal” particle to mediate interactions between the relic dark matter candidate and standard model particles Such a weakly coupled dark portal particle could be produced at the SNS by decay of π0=η0 particles and nuclear absorption of π− particles produced by the interactions between the 1 GeV proton beam and mercury target. Through specialized beam-stop running which mitigated the high-energy neutrino backgrounds [16,17]
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