Probing invisible dark photon models via atmospheric collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how atmospheric collisions can produce dark sector particles in the dark photon model and uses Super-K data to set new constraints on the model's parameters in the 0.5-1.4 GeV mass range.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of probing dark photon models through atmospheric collision signals detected by underground neutrino detectors, providing the most stringent constraints in certain mass ranges.

Findings

Super-K data sets new leading constraints on dark photon in 0.5-1.4 GeV range.

Atmospheric collisions can produce detectable dark sector particles.

Constraints surpass previous bounds from BaBar and NA64.

Abstract

Atmospheric collisions can copiously produce dark sector particles in the invisible dark photon model, leading to detectable signals in underground neutrino detectors. We consider the dark photon model with the mass mixing mechanism and use the Super-K detector to detect the electron recoil events caused by the atmospherically produced dark sector particles within the model. We find that the combined data from four Super-K runs yield new leading constraints for the invisible dark photon in the mass range of $\sim(0.5-1.4)$ GeV, surpassing various previous constraints, including those from BaBar and NA64.