Sensitivity of MAGIX@MESA to BSM effects via Bethe-Heitler pair production

TL;DR

This paper assesses MAGIX@MESA's potential to detect light BSM mediators in the few to hundred MeV range using Bethe-Heitler pair production with high-intensity electron beams, optimizing detection strategies.

Contribution

It introduces an optimized experimental setup and analysis method to enhance sensitivity to BSM mediators at MAGIX@MESA, extending the search for dark sector particles.

Findings

MAGIX can probe mediator-electron couplings down to ~10^{-4}

Optimized asymmetric kinematic acceptance improves signal-to-background ratio

The experiment is sensitive to scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, and axial vector mediators in the sub-GeV range.

Abstract

We explore the sensitivity of the upcoming MAGIX experiment at the MESA facility to light Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) mediators in the few to hundred MeV mass range. Utilizing high-intensity electron beams of 55 MeV and 105 MeV on a heavy $^{181}\text{Ta}$ target, we investigate the production of scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, and axial vector mediators via the Bethe-Heitler process. By optimizing the asymmetric kinematic acceptance of the double-spectrometer setup to enhance the signal over background ratio, we demonstrate that MAGIX can probe mediator-electron couplings down to $\mathcal{O}(10^{-4})$, offering a competitive probe of the dark sector in the sub-GeV mass range.