Ultralight dark matter search in a large liquid scintillator detector

TL;DR

This paper explores how ultralight scalar dark matter could influence neutrino oscillations in large liquid scintillator detectors, providing new sensitivity limits and insights into dark matter-neutrino interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to probe ultralight dark matter through neutrino oscillation distortions in large detectors, deriving sensitivity limits and analyzing impact on neutrino parameters.

Findings

Derived sensitivity limits on ULDM modulation parameters.

Showed ULDM could mildly affect neutrino oscillation measurements.

Highlighted the potential of large liquid scintillator detectors to detect dark matter-neutrino interactions.

Abstract

The nature of dark matter remains one of the most profound mysteries in modern physics. In this work, we investigate the phenomenological implications of ultralight scalar dark matter (ULDM) coupled to neutrinos. We focus on a large homogeneous liquid scintillator detector, analyzing the regime where ULDM oscillations lead to time-averaged distortions in neutrino oscillation probabilities. We derive sensitivity limits on the modulation parameters $\eta_{\Delta_{21}}$ and $\eta_{\Delta_{31}}$, which quantify ULDM-induced smearing effect in oscillations driven by solar ($\Delta m^2_{21}$) and atmospheric ($\Delta m^2_{31}$) mass-squared differences. We further demonstrate that ULDM interactions could produce a mild impact on both the determinations of the neutrino oscillation parameters and the neutrino mass ordering sensitivity. These results showcase the benefits of a large liquid scintillator detector as a powerful probe of neutrino-ULDM interactions via neutrino oscillations.