Dark Force Detection in Low Energy e-p Collisions

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential to detect a light dark force boson in low energy electron-proton collisions, emphasizing the experimental feasibility with upcoming collider capabilities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the detection prospects for a light boson with specific decay modes and coupling constraints at a low energy e-p collider.

Findings

Detection requires about 1 inverse attobarn of data.

Dark boson with mass >10 MeV and small couplings can be probed.

Proposes experimental setup with upcoming JLab facilities.

Abstract

We study the prospects for detecting a light boson X with mass m_X < 100 MeV at a low energy electron-proton collider. We focus on the case where X dominantly decays to e+ e- as motivated by recent "dark force" models. In order to evade direct and indirect constraints, X must have small couplings to the standard model (alpha_X < 10^-8) and a sufficiently large mass (m_X >10 MeV). By comparing the signal and background cross sections for the e- p e+ e- final state, we conclude that dark force detection requires an integrated luminosity of around 1 inverse attobarn, achievable with a forthcoming JLab proposal.