A search is presented for fractionally charged particles with charges below , using their small energy loss in the tracking detector as a key variable to observe a signal. The analyzed dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of of proton-proton collisions collected at in 2016–2018 at the CERN LHC. This is the first search at the LHC for new particles with a charge between and , including an extension of previous results at a charge of . Masses up to 640 GeV and charges as low as are excluded at 95% confidence level. These are the most stringent limits to date for the considered Drell-Yan-like production mode. 
                        more » 
                        « less   
                    This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2026
                            
                            Probing Benchmark Models of Hidden-Sector Dark Matter with DAMIC-M
                        
                    
    
            We report on a search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles interacting with electrons using the DAMIC-M prototype detector at the Modane Underground Laboratory. The data feature a significantly lower detector single rate (factor 50) compared to our previous search, while also accumulating a 10 times larger exposure of . DM interactions in the skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are searched for as groups of two or three adjacent pixels with a total charge between 2 and . We find 144 candidates of and 1 candidate of , where 141.5 and 0.071, respectively, are expected from background. With no evidence of a DM signal, we place stringent constraints on DM particles with masses between 1 and interacting with electrons through an ultralight or heavy mediator. For large ranges of DM masses below , we exclude theoretically motivated benchmark scenarios where hidden-sector particles are produced as a major component of DM in the Universe through the freeze-in or freeze-out mechanisms. 
        more » 
        « less   
        
    
    
                            - PAR ID:
- 10629486
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/2tcc-bqck
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Volume:
- 135
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 0031-9007
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
- 
            
- 
            We search for dark matter (DM) with a mass using an exposure of with the XENONnT experiment. We consider spin-independent DM-nucleon interactions mediated by a heavy or light mediator, spin-dependent DM-neutron interactions, momentum-dependent DM scattering, and mirror DM. Using a lowered energy threshold compared to the previous weakly interacting massive particle search, a blind analysis of [0.5, 5.0] keV nuclear recoil events reveals no significant signal excess over the background. XENONnT excludes spin-independent DM-nucleon cross sections at 90% confidence level for DM. In the considered mass range, the DM sensitivity approaches the “neutrino fog,” the limitation where neutrinos produce a signal that is indistinguishable from that of light DM-xenon nucleus scattering. Published by the American Physical Society2025more » « less
- 
            We present results of a search for spin-independent dark matter-nucleus interactions in a by 1 mm thick (0.233 g) high-resolution silicon athermal phonon detector operated above ground. For interactions in the substrate, this detector achieves an rms baseline energy resolution of (statistical error), the best for any athermal phonon detector to date. With an exposure of hours, we place the most stringent constraints on dark matter masses between 44 and , with the lowest unexplored cross section of at . We employ a conservative salting technique to reach the lowest dark matter mass ever probed via direct detection experiment. This constraint is enabled by two-channel rejection of low energy backgrounds that are coupled to individual sensors.more » « less
- 
            We report on a search for a resonance decaying to a pair of muons in events in the mass range, using of data collected by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider at a center of mass energy of 10.58 GeV. The analysis probes two different models of beyond the standard model: a vector boson in the model and a muonphilic scalar. We observe no evidence for a signal and set exclusion limits at the 90% confidence level on the products of cross section and branching fraction for these processes, ranging from 0.046 fb to 0.97 fb for the model and from 0.055 fb to 1.3 fb for the muonphilic scalar model. For masses below , the corresponding constraints on the couplings of these processes to the standard model range from 0.0008 to 0.039 for the model and from 0.0018 to 0.040 for the muonphilic scalar model. These are the first constraints on the muonphilic scalar from a dedicated search. Published by the American Physical Society2024more » « less
- 
            We present a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a dataset corresponding to protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the main injector produce and mesons, which could decay into dark-matter (DM) particles mediated via a dark photon . A convolutional neural network is trained to identify interactions of the DM particles in the liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) exploiting its imagelike reconstruction capability. In the absence of a DM signal, we provide limits at the 90% confidence level on the squared kinematic mixing parameter as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range . The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles for two benchmark models with mass ratios and 2 and for dark fine-structure constants . Published by the American Physical Society2024more » « less
 An official website of the United States government
An official website of the United States government 
				
			 
					 
					
