Diffractive photoproduction of dark photons

TL;DR

This paper proposes using photon-induced diffractive processes at colliders as a novel method to search for dark photons, highlighting a promising unexplored parameter space around 1 GeV mass and specific coupling strengths.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental approach for dark photon detection via diffractive photoproduction, combining strong force interactions with a clean detection environment.

Findings

Identifies an unexplored region in dark photon parameter space around 1 GeV mass and coupling of 10^{-4}.

Suggests potential for dark photon discovery at the LHC using this method.

Highlights the feasibility and challenges of measuring such processes.

Abstract

Dark photons serve as a portal to connect the dark and standard model sectors. Here, we propose photon-induced exclusive diffractive processes as a new tool to study the production of dark photons in current and future colliders. These processes join the strength of the strong force, yielding large cross sections, with the cleanliness of diffractive photoproduction, providing a clean experimental environment. Although the measurement would be extremely difficult, we identified a currently unexplored region around dark photon masses of 1 GeV/$c^2$ and coupling suppression $\varepsilon$ values around $10^{-4}$ where dark photons could be potentially found at the LHC.