Searching for Strongly Interacting Massive Particles (SIMPs)

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential for laboratory detection of neutral, strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) across a range of masses and cross sections, proposing experimental methods including accelerator mass spectrometry and collider searches.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of SIMP detection prospects, including bounds on annihilation cross sections, binding conditions in nuclei, and experimental strategies at accelerators like the Tevatron.

Findings

Detection possible for SIMPs with cross sections >0.1 millibarn

Optimal mass range for detection is 25-50 GeV

Binding in gold nuclei is feasible under certain conditions

Abstract

We consider laboratory experiments that can detect stable, neutral strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs). We explore the SIMP annihilation cross section from its minimum value (restricted by cosmological bounds) to the barn range, and vary the mass values from a GeV to a TeV. We calculate, as a function of the SIMP-nucleon cross section, the minimum nucleon number A for which there should be binding in a nucleus. We consider accelerator mass spectrometry with a gold (A=200) target, and compute the likely abundance of anomalous gold nuclei if stable neutral SIMPs exist. We also consider the prospects and problems of detecting such particles at the Tevatron. We estimate optimistically that such detection might be possible for SIMPs with SIMP-nucleon cross sections larger than 0.1 millibarn and masses between 25 and 50 GeV.