Searches for exotica and dark matter with neutrino telescopes

Author(s):  
A. Margiotta

Neutrino telescopes are designed to search for neutrino sources in the Universe, exploiting the Cherenkov light emitted along the path of the charged particles produced in interactions occurring close to the detector volume. Their huge size and the shield offered by large water or ice overburden make them excellent tools to search for exotic and rare particles in the cosmic radiation. In particular, they are sensitive to particles not predicted by the Standard Model that could be messenger of new physics. An overview of the experimental scenario and the relevant results obtained looking for magnetic monopoles, dark matter candidates and other exotic relic particles with neutrino telescopes is given, together with the description of possible new perspectives. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Topological avatars of new physics’.

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-313
Author(s):  
Gaia Lanfranchi ◽  
Maxim Pospelov ◽  
Philip Schuster

At the dawn of a new decade, particle physics faces the challenge of explaining the mystery of dark matter, the origin of matter over antimatter in the Universe, the apparent fine-tuning of the electroweak scale, and many other aspects of fundamental physics. Perhaps the most striking frontier to emerge in the search for answers involves New Physics at mass scales comparable to that of familiar matter—below the GeV scale but with very feeble interaction strength. New theoretical ideas to address dark matter and other fundamental questions predict such feebly interacting particles (FIPs) at these scales, and existing data may even provide hints of this possibility. Emboldened by the lessons of the LHC, a vibrant experimental program to discover such physics is underway, guided by a systematic theoretical approach that is firmly grounded in the underlying principles of the Standard Model. We give an overview of these efforts, their motivations, and the decadal goals that animate the community involved in the search for FIPs, and we focus in particular on accelerator-based experiments.


Author(s):  
Chitta Ranjan Das ◽  
Katri Huitu ◽  
Zhanibek Kurmanaliyev ◽  
Bakytbek Mauyey ◽  
Timo Kärkkäinen

The crucial phenomenological and experimental predictions for new physics are outlined, where the number of problems of the Standard Model (neutrino masses and oscillations, dark matter, baryon asymmetry of the Universe, leptonic CP-violation) could find their solutions. The analogies between the cosmological neutrino mass scale from the early universe data and laboratory probes are discussed and the search for new physics and phenomena.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (8) ◽  
pp. 689
Author(s):  
V. M. Gorkavenko

Despite the undeniable success of the Standard Model of particle physics (SM), there are some phenomena (neutrino oscillations, baryon asymmetry of the Universe, dark matter, etc.) that SM cannot explain. This phenomena indicate that the SM have to be modified. Most likely, there are new particles beyond the SM. There are many experiments to search for new physics that can be can divided into two types: energy and intensity frontiers. In experiments of the first type, one tries to directly produce and detect new heavy particles. In experiments of the second type, one tries to directly produce and detect new light particles that feebly interact with SM particles. The future intensity frontier SHiP experiment (Search for Hidden Particles) at the CERN SPS is discussed. Its advantages and technical characteristics are given.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Basabendu Barman ◽  
Subhaditya Bhattacharya ◽  
Bohdan Grzadkowski

Abstract A model of dark matter (DM) that communicates with the Standard Model (SM) exclusively through suppressed dimension five operator is discussed. The SM is augmented with a symmetry U(1)X ⊗ Z2, where U(1)X is gauged and broken spontaneously by a very heavy decoupled scalar. The massive U(1)X vector boson (Xμ) is stabilized being odd under unbroken Z2 and therefore may contribute as the DM component of the universe. Dark sector field strength tensor Xμν couples to the SM hypercharge tensor Bμν via the presence of a heavier Z2 odd real scalar Φ, i.e. 1/Λ XμνBμνΦ, with Λ being a scale of new physics. The freeze-in production of the vector boson dark matter feebly coupled to the SM is advocated in this analysis. Limitations of the so-called UV freeze-in mechanism that emerge when the maximum reheat temperature TRH drops down close to the scale of DM mass are discussed. The parameter space of the model consistent with the observed DM abundance is determined. The model easily and naturally avoids both direct and indirect DM searches. Possibility for detection at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is also considered. A Stueckelberg formulation of the model is derived.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avelino Vicente

Since 2013, the LHCb collaboration has reported on the measurement of several observables associated with b→s transitions, finding various deviations from their predicted values in the Standard Model. These include a set of deviations in branching ratios and angular observables, as well as in the observables RK and RK⁎, specially built to test the possible violation of Lepton Flavor Universality. Even though these tantalizing hints are not conclusive yet, the b→s anomalies have gained considerable attention in the flavor community. Here we review new physics models that address these anomalies and explore their possible connection to the dark matter of the Universe. After discussing some of the ideas introduced in these works and classifying the proposed models, two selected examples are presented in detail in order to illustrate the potential interplay between these two areas of current particle physics.


Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 313
Author(s):  
Pietro Di Gangi

Dark matter is a milestone in the understanding of the Universe and a portal to the discovery of new physics beyond the Standard Model of particles. The direct search for dark matter has become one of the most active fields of experimental physics in the last few decades. Liquid Xenon (LXe) detectors demonstrated the highest sensitivities to the main dark matter candidates (Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, WIMP). The experiments of the XENON project, located in the underground INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, are leading the field thanks to the dual-phase LXe time projection chamber (TPC) technology. Since the first prototype XENON10 built in 2005, each detector of the XENON project achieved the highest sensitivity to WIMP dark matter. XENON increased the LXe target mass by nearly a factor 400, up to the 5.9 t of the current XENONnT detector installed at LNGS in 2020. Thanks to an unprecedentedly low background level, XENON1T (predecessor of XENONnT) set the world best limits on WIMP dark matter to date, for an overall boost of more than 3 orders of magnitude to the experimental sensitivity since the XENON project started. In this work, we review the principles of direct dark matter detection with LXe TPCs, the detectors of the XENON project, the challenges posed by background mitigation to ultra-low levels, and the main results achieved by the XENON project in the search for dark matter.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Calibbi ◽  
Francesco D’Eramo ◽  
Sam Junius ◽  
Laura Lopez-Honorez ◽  
Alberto Mariotti

Abstract Displaced vertices at colliders, arising from the production and decay of long-lived particles, probe dark matter candidates produced via freeze-in. If one assumes a standard cosmological history, these decays happen inside the detector only if the dark matter is very light because of the relic density constraint. Here, we argue how displaced events could very well point to freeze-in within a non-standard early universe history. Focusing on the cosmology of inflationary reheating, we explore the interplay between the reheating temperature and collider signatures for minimal freeze-in scenarios. Observing displaced events at the LHC would allow to set an upper bound on the reheating temperature and, in general, to gather indirect information on the early history of the universe.


2020 ◽  
pp. 655-710
Author(s):  
Hermann Kolanoski ◽  
Norbert Wermes

Astroparticle physics deals with the investigation of cosmic radiation using similar detection methods as in particle physics, however, mostly with quite different detector arrangements. In this chapter the detection principles for the different radiation types with cosmic origin are presented, this includes charged particles, gamma radiation, neutrinos and possibly existing Dark Matter. In the case of neutrinos also experiments at accelerators and reactors are included. Examples, which are typical for the different areas, are given for detectors and their properties. For cosmic ray detection apparatuses are deployed above the atmosphere with balloons or satellites or on the ground using the atmosphere as calorimeter in which high-energy cosmic rays develop showers or in underground areas including in water and ice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (A) ◽  
pp. 528-533
Author(s):  
Giulio Auriemma

The most interesting cosmological open problems, baryon asymmetry, dark matter, inflation and dark energy, are not explained by the standard model of particle physics (SM). The final<br />goal of the Large Hadron Collider an experimental verification of the SM in the Higgs sector, and also a search for evidence of new physics beyond it. In this paper we will report some of the results obtained in 2010 and 2011, from the LHCb experiment dedicated to the study of CP violations and rare decays of heavy quarks.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (37) ◽  
pp. 1440001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Casanellas ◽  
Ilídio Lopes

During the last century, with the development of modern physics in such diverse fields as thermodynamics, statistical physics, and nuclear and particle physics, the basic principles of the evolution of stars have been successfully well understood. Nowadays, a precise diagnostic of the stellar interiors is possible with the new fields of helioseismology and astroseismology. Even the measurement of solar neutrino fluxes, once a problem in particle physics, is now a powerful probe of the core of the Sun. These tools have allowed the use of stars to test new physics, in particular the properties of the hypothetical particles that constitute the dark matter (DM) of the Universe. Here we present recent results obtained using this approach.


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