Searches for dark photons at accelerators

TL;DR

This paper reviews the search for dark photons at accelerators, discussing current constraints, future prospects, and experimental challenges in detecting these hypothetical particles that could connect dark matter to ordinary matter.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of accelerator-based dark photon searches, summarizing existing constraints and outlining future experimental opportunities and challenges.

Findings

Current experiments constrain dark photon parameter space.

Future experiments could probe new regions of dark photon mass and coupling.

Identifies key experimental challenges for improving sensitivities.

Abstract

Dark matter particles may interact with other dark matter particles via a new force mediated by a dark photon, $A^{\prime}$, which would be the dark-sector analog to the ordinary photon of electromagnetism. The dark photon can obtain a highly suppressed mixing-induced coupling to the electromagnetic current, providing a portal through which dark photons can interact with ordinary matter. This review focuses on $A^{\prime}$ scenarios that are potentially accessible to accelerator-based experiments. We summarize the existing constraints placed by such experiments on dark photons, highlight what could be observed in the near future, and discuss the major experimental challenges that must be overcome to improve sensitivities.