Oscillating Imprints of Dark Matter in Mesons Decays

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Hauptverfasser: Chiatto, Prisco Lo, Döbrich, Babette, Perez, Gilad
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Chiatto, Prisco Lo
Döbrich, Babette
Perez, Gilad
author_facet Chiatto, Prisco Lo
Döbrich, Babette
Perez, Gilad
contents We study scenarios in which ultralight dark matter (ULDM) causes oscillations of the Cabibbo--Kobayashi--Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements, considering two frameworks. The first, previously proposed in the literature, employs the Nelson--Barr mechanism to solve the strong CP problem and the CKM phase is identified with a pseudo-Nambu--Goldstone boson. The second, inspired by Froggatt--Nielsen flavor models, relies on quadratic couplings of the ULDM to the Standard Model while naturally suppressing linear couplings. On the experimental side, we outline a strategy to search for such oscillations at flavor factories using meson decays, focusing on the NA62 experiment as the most promising candidate for discovery thanks to its large kaon statistics. We show that the sensitivity of lifetime-based observables is parametrically degraded when the total particle flux is not known exactly, leading to a substantial loss of sensitivity compared to naive estimates. We therefore advocate alternative observables based on direct counting of events, which retain the expected $1/\sqrt{N}$ scaling and provide a robust probe of oscillating CKM elements. Our results highlight flavor experiments as a novel probe of ULDM through time-dependent signatures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_24090
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Oscillating Imprints of Dark Matter in Mesons Decays
Chiatto, Prisco Lo
Döbrich, Babette
Perez, Gilad
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
We study scenarios in which ultralight dark matter (ULDM) causes oscillations of the Cabibbo--Kobayashi--Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements, considering two frameworks. The first, previously proposed in the literature, employs the Nelson--Barr mechanism to solve the strong CP problem and the CKM phase is identified with a pseudo-Nambu--Goldstone boson. The second, inspired by Froggatt--Nielsen flavor models, relies on quadratic couplings of the ULDM to the Standard Model while naturally suppressing linear couplings. On the experimental side, we outline a strategy to search for such oscillations at flavor factories using meson decays, focusing on the NA62 experiment as the most promising candidate for discovery thanks to its large kaon statistics. We show that the sensitivity of lifetime-based observables is parametrically degraded when the total particle flux is not known exactly, leading to a substantial loss of sensitivity compared to naive estimates. We therefore advocate alternative observables based on direct counting of events, which retain the expected $1/\sqrt{N}$ scaling and provide a robust probe of oscillating CKM elements. Our results highlight flavor experiments as a novel probe of ULDM through time-dependent signatures.
title Oscillating Imprints of Dark Matter in Mesons Decays
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24090