Search

Despite the robust cosmological and astrophysical evidence confirming the existence of a non-baryonic matter component in the Universe, the underlying nature of Dark Matter (DM) remains a mystery. Among the several possible scenarios, light DM candidates thermally produced in the early Universe are especially interesting, since their abundance could be set via the standard freeze-out mechanism. Additionally, new light states can present a rich phenomenology and are attracting increasing attention due to recent experimental capabilities to probe dark sectors with feeble interactions. In particular, inelastic DM (iDM) candidates are an appealing option, since they can avoid cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation bounds as well as indirect and direct detection searches. Although such models have been intensively studied in the literature, the usual scenario is to consider a secluded dark photon mediator. In this work, we consider the case of iDM with general vector mediators and explore the consequences of such a choice in the relic density computation, as well as for the cosmological and experimental bounds. We examine models with couplings to baryon and lepton number and show new viable parameter regions for inelastic dark matter models. Especially, anomaly-free gauge groups with non-universal couplings to leptons open new windows of the parameter space for thermal dark matter yet unexplored by experiments. We also provide a numerical Python library to compute the relic densities for user-defined gauge charges., Comment: 47 pages, 14 figures; v2: added references, included new appendices and figures; the ReD-DeLiVeR code is available at https://github.com/anafoguel/ReD-DeLiVeR

We investigate the impact of a presumed axion-like-particle (ALP) emission in a core-collapse supernova explosion on neutrino luminosities and mean energies employing a relatively simple analytic description. We compute the nuclear Bremsstrahlung and Primakoff axion luminosities as functions of the protoneutron star (PNS) parameters and discuss how the ALP luminosities compete with the neutrino emission, modifying the total PNS thermal energy dissipation. Our results are publicly available in the python package ARtiSANS, which can be used to compute the neutrino and axion observables for different choices of parameters., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; ARtiSANS code available at https://github.com/anafoguel/ARtiSANS ; v2: new section discussing the validity of the analytic approximation; matches version published at Astropart. Phys

In this paper we study the present and future sensitivities of the rare meson decay facilities KOTO, LHCb and Belle II to a light dark sector of the minimal dark abelian gauge symmetry where a dark Higgs $S$ and a dark photon $Z_D$ have masses $\lesssim 10$ GeV. We have explored the interesting scenario where $S$ can only decay to a pair of $Z_D$'s and so contribute to visible or invisible signatures, depending on the life-time of the latter. Our computations show that these accelerator experiments can access the dark Higgs (mass and scalar mixing) and the dark photon (mass and kinetic mixing) parameters in a complementary way. We have also discussed how the CMS measurement of the SM Higgs total decay width and their limit on the Higgs invisible branching ratio can be used to extend the experimental reach to dark photon masses up to $\sim 10$ GeV, providing at the same time sensitivity to the gauge coupling associated with the broken dark abelian symmetry., Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures; v2: minor modifications, matches version published in JHEP

High energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe Standard Model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential., Comment: 429 pages, contribution to Snowmass 2021

Axionlike particles are among the most studied extensions of the standard model. In this Letter we study the bounds that the ArgoNeuT experiment can put on the parameter space of two specific scenarios: leptophilic axionlike particles and Majorons. We find that such bounds are currently the most constraining ones in the (0.2 - 1.7) GeV mass range., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; v2: extended discussion of the analysis and new appendices; matches version published at PRL

Abelian U(1) gauge group extensions of the Standard Model represent one of the most minimal approaches to solve some of the most urgent particle physics questions and provide a rich phenomenology in various experimental searches. In this work, we focus on baryophilic vector mediator models in the MeV-to-GeV mass range and, in particular, present, for the first time, gauge vector field decays into almost arbitrary hadronic final states. Using only very little theoretical approximations, we rigorously follow the vector meson dominance theory in our calculations. We study the effect on the total and partial decay widths, the branching ratios, and not least on the present (future) experimental limits (reach) on (for) the mass and couplings of light vector particles in different models. We compare our results to current results in the literature. Our calculations are publicly available in a python package to compute various vector particle decay quantities in order to describe leptonic as well as hadronic decay signatures for experimental searches., Comment: 43 pages, 22 figures; DeLiVeR code available at https://github.com/preimitz/DeLiVeR ; v2: minor modifications, inclusion of error estimate section, new limits and references; matches version accepted for publication in JHEP

Low-energy neutrinos are clean messengers from supernovae explosions and probably carry unique insights into the process of stellar evolution. We estimate the expected number of events considering coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off silicon nuclei, as would happen in Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) detectors. The number of expected events, integrated over a window of about 18 s, is $\sim$ 4 if we assume 10 kg of silicon and a supernovae 1 kpc away. For a distance similar to the red supergiant Betelgeuse, the number of expected events increases to $\sim$ 30 - 120, depending on the supernovae model. We argue that silicon detectors can be effective for supernovae neutrinos, and might possibly distinguish between models for certain target masses and distances., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables; Matches the version published in Astropart. Phys