Time-dependent signals of new physics at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores how incorporating timing information at the LHC can enhance the detection sensitivity for time-varying new physics signals, such as ultralight dark matter interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that using timing data can potentially double the sensitivity of LHC searches for certain dark matter interactions compared to traditional methods.

Findings

Timing-based searches can be up to twice as sensitive as conventional methods.

Time variation in signals can help distinguish new physics from Standard Model backgrounds.

Dark matter coupling to quarks may produce observable time-dependent signals at the LHC.

Abstract

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is sensitive to signals of beyond the Standard Model physics through a variety of channels including missing energy and resonance searches. In most searches, the new physics and the Standard Model backgrounds are assumed to be invariant in time, up to systematic effects from the experiment. However, new physics with a time variation would provide an additional handle to separate signal from background. Such a time variation may come from ultralight dark matter coupling to an oscillating background field. In this paper, we consider an interaction of dark matter with quarks and an additional heavy particle, and show that the sensitivity of a search that uses timing information at the LHC can be up to a factor of two stronger compared to one that does not use time information.