Hunting sub-GeV dark matter with NO$\nu$A near detector

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential of the NO$ u$A near detector to detect sub-GeV dark matter particles, demonstrating its capability to explore new parameter space and improve upon existing experimental limits.

Contribution

It presents a novel analysis of NO$ u$A's sensitivity to MeV-GeV dark matter, highlighting its potential to reach the thermal target for scalar dark matter.

Findings

NO$ u$A can explore new dark matter parameter space below 100 MeV.

It can reach the thermal target for scalar dark matter in some mass ranges.

The sensitivity surpasses existing experiments like Babar, E137, and LSND.

Abstract

We study the sensitivity of the NO$\nu$A near detector to MeV-GeV dark matter while operating symbiotically with the neutrino program. We find that NO$\nu$A could explore a large new region of parameter space over the next few years for dark matter masses below 100 MeV, reaching the thermal target for a scalar dark matter particle for some masses. This result represents a significant improvement over existing probes such as Babar, E137, and LSND.