Neutrino Experiments as Dark Sector Factories

by Zahra Tabrizi (Northwestern University)

Wednesday 28 Feb 2024, 11:30 → 12:30 Europe/Zurich

4/2-011 - TH common room (CERN)

In this talk I will explore the potential of neutrino experiments in probing the “dark sectors” of particle physics where traditional searches face challenges, focusing on Axion-Like Particles (ALPs), light dark matter (LDM) and Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs). I will demonstrate that a DUNE-like detector can explore a wide range of parameter space in the ALP coupling vs its mass, including some regions unconstrained by existing bounds. I will show that for both ALPs and LDM, by utilizing a beam dump mode at a DUNE-like experiment, unexplored new regions of parameter space can be probed with an exposure of only 3 months with half of its expected initial beam power. Finally, I will propose a new mechanism for the production of HNLs together with ALPs at the neutrino experiments and will show that how DUNE can be more sensitive to HNLs parameter space of they belong to a richer – but rather generic – dark sector.