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Main Authors: Berger, Joshua, Putnam, Gray
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.18480
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author Berger, Joshua
Putnam, Gray
author_facet Berger, Joshua
Putnam, Gray
contents We study the sensitivity of fixed target experiments to hadronically-coupled axion like particles (ALPs) produced in kaon decays, with a particular emphasis on current and upcoming short-baseline neutrino experiments. We demonstrate that below the kaon decay mass threshold ($m_a < m_K - m_π$) kaon decay is the dominant production mechanism for ALPs at neutrino experiments, larger by many orders of magnitude than production in psuedo-scalar mixing. Such axions can be probed principally by the di-photon and di-muon final states. In the latter case, even if the axion does not couple to muons at tree level, such a coupling is induced by the renormalization group flow from the UV scale. We reinterpret prior results by CHARM and MicroBooNE through these channels and show that they constrain new areas of heavy axion parameter space. We also show projections of the sensitivity of the SBN and DUNE experiments to axions through these channels, which reach up to multiple decades higher in the axion decay constant beyond existing constraints. DUNE projects to have a sensitivity competitive with other world-leading upcoming experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_18480
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sensitivity to Kaon Decays to ALPs at Fixed Target Experiments
Berger, Joshua
Putnam, Gray
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
We study the sensitivity of fixed target experiments to hadronically-coupled axion like particles (ALPs) produced in kaon decays, with a particular emphasis on current and upcoming short-baseline neutrino experiments. We demonstrate that below the kaon decay mass threshold ($m_a < m_K - m_π$) kaon decay is the dominant production mechanism for ALPs at neutrino experiments, larger by many orders of magnitude than production in psuedo-scalar mixing. Such axions can be probed principally by the di-photon and di-muon final states. In the latter case, even if the axion does not couple to muons at tree level, such a coupling is induced by the renormalization group flow from the UV scale. We reinterpret prior results by CHARM and MicroBooNE through these channels and show that they constrain new areas of heavy axion parameter space. We also show projections of the sensitivity of the SBN and DUNE experiments to axions through these channels, which reach up to multiple decades higher in the axion decay constant beyond existing constraints. DUNE projects to have a sensitivity competitive with other world-leading upcoming experiments.
title Sensitivity to Kaon Decays to ALPs at Fixed Target Experiments
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.18480