Dark Matter Searches at BABAR
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A decade of dark sector and light dark matter searches at BABAR Bertrand Echenard Caltech on behalf of the BABAR collaboration Light Dark World 2020 – virtual Sydney Dark sectors in a nutshell What are dark sectors (or hidden sectors) • New particle(s) that don’t couple directly to the SM. Also referred to as feebly interacting particles • Indirect HS-SM interactions through portals: vector, scalar and neutrino portals at lowest order (see next slide) • Theoretically motivated: many BSM scenarios (e.g. EWSB) and string theory include dark sectors • Could have rich structure (SM structure is non-trivial) S,H,a A’, • Realized that MeV-GeV dark sector have very desirable properties: mediators light dark matter candidate, explanation of CP anomaly (axion), neutrino mass (heavy neutral lepton), … Dark Fermions ? Dark Forces Dark Higgs Dark matter could be part of a dark sector • Dark matter could reside in the dark sector, or mediate the SM-DS Dark Matter interactions Motivates broad exploration of light dark sector – not just limited to dark matter Low energy, high intensity e+e- colliders offer an ideal environment to study them Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.2 The portals There are a few indirect interactions allowed by Standard Model symmetries between the dark sector and the SM – the “portals”. The lowest dimensional portals include: γ Vector New gauge boson A’ (dark photon) mixing A’ ε µν with SM photon/Z via kinetic mixing ε Dim=4 B A’µν φ H Scalar New dark scalar φ mixing with SM Higgs 2 µφ λφ2 Dim=4 H ( + ) 4 Fermion New heavy neutral lepton mixing with left- N ν Dim= yHNL handed SM doublets and the Higgs boson γ Axion New axion / axion-like particle coupling to a ~ ~ ∂ µ Dim=5 1/fa(c1tr(GG) + c2FF + c3 µj ) a gauge and fermion fields γ And many variations with slightly different couplings (note: small variations can have big phenomenological impacts) Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.3 Light thermal dark matter Freeze-out scenario with light dark matter (χ) requires new light mediator to explain the relic density, or dark matter is overproduced χ < > ~ ( ) ϕ SM ≫ gD gSM SM χ ~ since (1) <> ≤ <> ≤ What kind of mediator? Must be neutral under the SM and renormalizable. Among the simplest choices: New scalar (φ) with Higgs coupling New vector (A’) with photon coupling χ χ φ H SM A’ γ SM χ χ SM SM Naturally realized in the context of dark sectors Focus on vector portal, much less constrained than the scalar one Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.4 Light thermal dark matter Secluded annihilation Direct annihilation χ ∝ A’ ∝ ∝ gD χ gD annihilation Dark matter A’ = / mA’ mχ 2mχ f + f + A’ A’ A’ χ decay f - f - χ Dark photon Dark photon Visible decay Invisible decay Prompt or displaced decay Missing … Resonance feature … mass … energy … momentum Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.5 Light thermal dark matter Thermal freeze-out DM with vector portal (direct annihilation) • Light DM can annihilate into SM particles via dark photon mediator mA’ > mDM • Thermal relic density uniquely predicted from DM mass and spin: < > ~ ~ Dimensionless = Toro & Krnjaic variable α Conservative assumptions ( D = 0.5 and • Dark matter must be a scalar, Dirac mA/mχ = 3) made for plotting constraints fermion or pseudo-fermion to satisfy from missing mass / momentum / energy CMB constraints experiments. Definitive predictions (targets) as a function of mass and particle type !!! Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.6 Experimental approaches Missing energy / momentum Beam dump Colliders σ ∼ ε2 σ ∼ 2 ε2 2 σ ∼ α ε4 /s mA<<s Z / mA D 2 2 σ ∼ ε /(s-mA ) mA ~ s Large production yield for Probe dark sector coupling Large production low mediator masses yield on resonance (“high mass”) Large “detection yield” Process suppressed by ε4 Explore many final states Collider ideally suited to explore “high mass” region and structure of dark sector Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.7 The BABAR experiment BABAR collected ∼500 fb-1 around the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances between 1999 - 2008 The BABAR detector ECM ∼10.5 GeV (at Y(4S)) Collaboration is still active more than 10 years after data taking ended ! Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.8 Wide program at BABAR Extensive “dark sector” program conducted at BABAR over the last decade Search for dark photon Search for self-interacting DM + - → γ → + - µ+µ- + - + - e e A' , A' e e , e e → YD → A’A’A’ → 3X X (X=l,π) e+e- → γ A' , A' → invisible Search for axion (prel. results) Search for “muonic dark force” B→ Ka, a → γγ e+e- → µ+µ- Z' , Z' → µ+µ- Search for B-Mesogenesis Search for dark bosons B → Baryon + DM (+mesons) e+e- → γ A' → W' W'' Search for dark Higgs boson Exploratory search for dark hadrons + - e e → h' A' , h' → A' A' + - + - + - e e → πD + X, πD → e e , µ µ Search for leptophilic dark scalar + - → τ+τ- → µ+µ- e e h' , h' Related searches Search for six-quark dark matter Search for long-lived particles Y(2S,3S) → ΛΛ S Search for low-mass Higgs boson Published On-going /exploratory studies Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.9 In this talk We will review the various searches performed at BABAR following the different type of dark sector particle and the “complexity” of the models. Dark bosons Dark photon (visible and invisible) Generic dark gauge boson Muonic dark force Dark scalars Dark Higgs boson Leptophilic dark scalar Axion Axion in B decays Dark matter Six-quark dark matter Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.10 DARK BOSON DARK PHOTON & OTHER GAUGE BOSONS Visible dark photon decays Dilepton mass distributions A dark photon can be produced in e+e- → γ A’, A’ → e+e-, µ+µ- BABAR e+ e+ γ γ + + - l l e A’ e- εe - + - l l- e e m(e+e-) (GeV) Search for a narrow resonance over large QED background: BABAR • 2 tracks + 1 photon • Constrained fit (beam energy + vertex) • Particle identification (e/mu) • Kinematic cuts to improve purity µ+µ- • Quality cuts on tracks and photons mred (GeV) Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.12 Visible dark photon decays Signal significance A dark photon can be produced in e+e- → γ A’, A’ → e+e-, µ+µ- e+e- e+ e+ BABAR γ γ + + - l l e A’ e- εe - l l- Search for a narrow resonance over large + - QED background: µ µ BABAR • 2 tracks + 1 photon BABAR • Constrained fit (beam energy + vertex) • Particle identification (e/mu) • Kinematic cuts to improve purity • Quality cuts on tracks and photons No significant signal found Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.13 Visible dark photon decays Limits on kinetic mixing parameter A dark photon can be produced in (90% CL) over a wide range of masses e+e- → γ A’, A’ → e+e-, µ+µ- e+ e+ γ γ + + - l l e A’ e- ε e l- - l 2014 PRL 113 (2014) 201801 and PRL viewpoint Search for a narrow resonance over large QED background: • 2 tracks + 1 photon 2020 • Constrained fit (beam energy + vertex) • Particle identification (e/mu) • Kinematic cuts to improve purity • Quality cuts on tracks and photons 1901.09966 Worldwide program to extend coverage Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.14 Visible dark photon decays Ilten et al., JHEP 06 (2018) 004 Alternative dark photon couplings Extensions of these portals can be constructed by gauging accidental symmetries of the SM or individual flavor numbers, e.g. • vector coupling to B−L current • a leptophobic B boson coupling directly to baryon number • vector mediating protophobic force • Vector coupling to Li-Lj i,j=e,µ,τ Constraints can be significantly weakened depending on the model → need multiple measurement to cover all bases Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.15 Invisible dark photon decays At e+e- colliders, we can search for e+e- → γ A' , A' → invisible by tagging the recoil photon in “single photon” events BABAR collected ∼53 fb-1 of data with dedicated single photon triggers during its last year of data taking Analysis overview • Missing energy and momentum is best signature • Hermeticity is key, but need to allow some machine background • Search strategy: select single-photon final state, then look for a bump in missing mass mX (or Eγ) • Main backgrounds: e+e- → γγ and e+e- → γ e+e- with particles outside detector acceptance • Selection variable categories: photon quality, #tracks, extra Ecalorimeter, missing mass/energy and muon detector information Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.16 Invisible dark photon decays At e+e- colliders, we can search for e+e- → γ A' , A' → invisible by tagging the recoil photon in “single photon” events BABAR collected ∼53 fb-1 of data with dedicated single photon triggers during its last year of data taking Signal significances BABAR Limit extraction procedure • Perform simultaneous fit to independent regions for each beam energy • Probe a total of 166 mass hypotheses • For each fit, fix background shape using the background control region, and float the signal yield, peaking and continuum background contributions • Most significant fit: local (global) significance of 3.1σ (2.6σ) BABAR Bertrand Echenard - LDW 2020 - p.17 Invisible dark photon decays At e+e- colliders, we can search for e+e- → γ A' , A' → invisible by tagging the recoil photon in “single photon” events BABAR collected ∼53 fb-1 of data with dedicated single photon triggers during its last year of data taking Limits on kinetic mixing (90% CL) Limits on kinetic mixing (90% CL) • Substantially improve previous limits in high mass region • Exclude purely invisible dark photon as explanation of “g-2” anomaly • Set constraints on light thermal freeze-out dark matter • Next generation B-factories should PRL 119, 131804 (2017) and PRL highlights substantially improve at high