Light dark matter in neutrino beams: production modelling and scattering signatures at MiniBooNE, T2K and SHiP

TL;DR

This paper models the production and detection of light sub-GeV dark matter in neutrino experiments, introducing an improved production model and exploring various scattering signatures, with a publicly available simulation tool.

Contribution

It presents an enhanced production model for dark matter in neutrino experiments and analyzes multiple scattering signatures, including a new simulation tool for broader application.

Findings

Improved dark matter production modeling via dark photon or baryonic vector mediator.

Identification of neutral pion-like scattering as a sensitive detection channel.

Provision of a publicly available simulation tool for experimental predictions.

Abstract

We analyze the prospects for detection of light sub-GeV dark matter produced in experiments designed to study the properties of neutrinos, such as MiniBooNE, T2K, SHiP, DUNE etc. We present an improved production model, when dark matter couples to hadronic states via a dark photon or baryonic vector mediator, incorporating bremsstrahlung of the dark vector. In addition to elastic scattering, we also study signatures of light dark matter undergoing deep inelastic or quasi-elastic NC$\pi^0$-like scattering in the detector producing neutral pions, which for certain experiments may provide the best sensitivity. An extensive appendix provides documentation for a publicly available simulation tool {\tt BdNMC} that can be applied to determine the hidden sector dark matter production and scattering rate at a range of proton fixed target experiments.