Production of Light Dark Particles from Nonlinear Compton Scattering Between Intense Laser and Muon or Proton Beam

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method using intense laser interactions with muon or proton beams to produce and detect light dark particles like dark photons and axion-like particles, offering a new avenue for dark matter searches.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of nonlinear Compton scattering with high-intensity lasers as a new approach to search for light dark particles, with detailed cross section calculations and background analysis.

Findings

Cross sections for dark photon and axion-like particle production are calculated.

The method shows competitive sensitivity for particles lighter than about 1 MeV.

Background processes with neutrinos are analyzed for experimental feasibility.

Abstract

The laser of an intense electromagnetic field promotes the studies of strong-field particle physics in high-intensity frontier. Particle accelerator facilities in the world produce high-quality muon and proton beams. In this work, we propose the nonlinear Compton scattering to light dark particles through the collision between intense laser pulse and muon or proton beam. We take light dark photon and axion-like particle as illustrative dark particles. The cross sections of relevant nonlinear Compton scattering to dark photon or axion-like particle are calculated. We also analyze the background processes with missing neutrinos. The prospective sensitivity shows that the laser-induced process provides a complementary and competitive search of new invisible particles lighter than about 1 MeV.