Hunting for a 17 MeV particle coupled to electrons

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Di Luzio, Luca, Paradisi, Paride, Selimovic, Nudzeim
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Di Luzio, Luca
Paradisi, Paride
Selimovic, Nudzeim
author_facet Di Luzio, Luca
Paradisi, Paride
Selimovic, Nudzeim
contents We discuss a set of precision observables that can probe the existence of a light particle $X$ coupled to electrons in the mass range of 1-100 MeV. As a case study, we consider the recent excess of $e^+e^-$ final-state events at $\sqrt{s} = 16.9$ MeV reported by the PADME collaboration. Interestingly, this mass is tantalizingly close to the invariant mass at which anomalous $e^+e^-$ pair production has previously been observed in nuclear transitions from excited to ground states by the ATOMKI collaboration. For the scenario in which the new particle has a vector coupling to electrons, we show that the PADME excess is already in tension with constraints from the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. Further improvements in the measurement of the electron $g$-2, together with upcoming results from PIONEER (searching for $π^+\to e^+ νX$) and Mu3e (searching for $μ^+ \to e^+ \barν_μν_e X$), are expected to definitively probe this scenario in the near future. We also explore alternative possibilities where the new particle has scalar, pseudoscalar, or axial-vector couplings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_14014
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hunting for a 17 MeV particle coupled to electrons
Di Luzio, Luca
Paradisi, Paride
Selimovic, Nudzeim
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
We discuss a set of precision observables that can probe the existence of a light particle $X$ coupled to electrons in the mass range of 1-100 MeV. As a case study, we consider the recent excess of $e^+e^-$ final-state events at $\sqrt{s} = 16.9$ MeV reported by the PADME collaboration. Interestingly, this mass is tantalizingly close to the invariant mass at which anomalous $e^+e^-$ pair production has previously been observed in nuclear transitions from excited to ground states by the ATOMKI collaboration. For the scenario in which the new particle has a vector coupling to electrons, we show that the PADME excess is already in tension with constraints from the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. Further improvements in the measurement of the electron $g$-2, together with upcoming results from PIONEER (searching for $π^+\to e^+ νX$) and Mu3e (searching for $μ^+ \to e^+ \barν_μν_e X$), are expected to definitively probe this scenario in the near future. We also explore alternative possibilities where the new particle has scalar, pseudoscalar, or axial-vector couplings.
title Hunting for a 17 MeV particle coupled to electrons
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.14014