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1. First Search for Dark-Trident Processes Using the MicroBooNE Detector

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.241801  

   Abratenko, P; Alterkait, O; Andrade_Aldana, D; Arellano, L; Asaadi, J; Ashkenazi, A; Balasubramanian, S; Baller, B; Barr, G; Barrow, D; et al (June 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   We present a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a dataset corresponding to $7.2\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the main injector produce ${\pi }^0$ and $\eta$ mesons, which could decay into dark-matter (DM) particles mediated via a dark photon $A^{\prime }$ . 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 ${ϵ}^2$ as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range $10\le M_{A^{\prime }}\le 400\mathrm{MeV}$ . The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles $\chi$ for two benchmark models with mass ratios $M_{\chi }/M_{A^{\prime }}=0.6$ and 2 and for dark fine-structure constants $0.1\le {\alpha }_D\le 1$ . Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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2. First Measurement of ${\nu }_e$ and ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ Charged-Current Single Charged-Pion Production Differential Cross Sections on Argon Using the MicroBooNE Detector

   https://doi.org/10.1103/sfrz-c8m9  

   Abratenko, P; Andrade_Aldana, D; Arellano, L; Asaadi, J; Ashkenazi, A; Balasubramanian, S; Baller, B; Barnard, A; Barr, G; Barrow, D; et al (August 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   Understanding electron neutrino interactions is crucial for measurements of neutrino oscillations and searches for new physics in neutrino experiments. We present the first measurement of the flux-averaged ${\nu }_e+{\overline{\nu }}_e$ charged-current single charged-pion production cross section on argon using the MicroBooNE detector and data from the NuMI neutrino beam. The total cross section is measured to be $[0.93\pm 0.13(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.27(\mathrm{syst}\left)\right]\times {10}^{-39}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{nucleon}$ at a mean ${\nu }_e+{\overline{\nu }}_e$ energy of 730 MeV. Differential cross sections are also reported in electron energy, electron and pion angles, and electron-pion opening angle. 

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3. Constraints on metastable superheavy dark matter coupled to sterile neutrinos with the Pierre Auger Observatory

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L081101  

   Abdul_Halim, A; Abreu, P; Aglietta, M; Allekotte, I; Almeida_Cheminant, K; Almela, A; Aloisio, R; Alvarez-Muñiz, J; Ammerman_Yebra, J; Anastasi, G A; et al (April 2024, Physical Review D)

   Dark matter particles could be superheavy, provided their lifetime is much longer than the age of the Universe. Using the sensitivity of the Pierre Auger Observatory to ultrahigh energy neutrinos and photons, we constrain a specific extension of the Standard Model of particle physics that meets the lifetime requirement for a superheavy particle by coupling it to a sector of ultralight sterile neutrinos. Our results show that, for a typical dark coupling constant of 0.1, the mixing angle ${\theta }_m$ between active and sterile neutrinos must satisfy, roughly, ${\theta }_m\lesssim 1.5\times {10}^{-6}(M_X/{10}^9\mathrm{GeV}{)}^{-2}$ for a mass $M_X$ of the dark-matter particle between ${10}^8\mathrm{GeV}$ and ${10}^{11}\mathrm{GeV}$ . Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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4. First Search for $B\to X_s\nu \overline{\nu }$ Decays

   https://doi.org/10.1103/kf73-hw61  

   Abumusabh, M; Adachi, I; Adamczyk, K; Aggarwal, L; Ahmed, H; Ahn, Y; Aihara, H; Akopov, N; Alghamdi, S; Alhakami, M; et al (June 2026, Physical Review Letters)

   We report the first search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decays $B\to X_s\nu \overline{\nu }$ , where $X_s$ is a hadronic system with strangeness equal to 1, in data collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collider. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $365{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ collected at the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)$ resonance and $43{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ collected at a center-of-mass energy 60 MeV below resonance for estimation of $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to q\overline{q}$ continuum background. One of the $B$ mesons from the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)\to B\overline{B}$ decay is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode. The $B\to X_s\nu \overline{\nu }$ decay is reconstructed with a sum-of-exclusives approach that uses 30 $X_s$ decay modes. This approach provides high sensitivity to the inclusive decay, despite the presence of two undetected neutrinos. The search is performed in three regions of the $X_s$ mass, $M_{X_s}^{\mathrm{true}}$ , chosen to separate contributions from $K$ , $K^{*}\left(892\right)$ , and heavier strange final states. We do not observe a significant signal and set upper limits at 90% confidence level on the partial branching fractions for the regions $0.0<M_{X_s}^{\mathrm{true}}<0.6\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ , $0.6<M_{X_s}^{\mathrm{true}}<1.0\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ , and $1.0\mathrm{GeV}/c^2<M_{X_s}^{\mathrm{true}}$ of $2.2\times {10}^{-5}$ , $9.3\times {10}^{-5}$ , and $30.9\times {10}^{-5}$ , respectively. Combining the three mass regions, we obtain the upper limit on the branching fraction, $B(B\to X_s\nu \overline{\nu })<3.3\times {10}^{-4}$ . 

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5. Dual-Baseline Search for Active-to-Sterile Neutrino Oscillations in NOvA

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.081804  

   Acero, M A; Acharya, B; Adamson, P; Anfimov, N; Antoshkin, A; Arrieta-Diaz, E; Asquith, L; Aurisano, A; Back, A; Balashov, N; et al (February 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   We report a search for neutrino oscillations to sterile neutrinos under a model with three active and one sterile neutrinos ( $3+1$ model). This analysis uses the NOvA detectors exposed to the NuMI beam, running in neutrino mode. The data exposure, $13.6\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target, doubles that previously analyzed by NOvA, and the analysis is the first to use ${\nu }_{\mu }$ charged-current interactions in conjunction with neutral-current interactions. Neutrino samples in the near and far detectors are fitted simultaneously, enabling the search to be carried out over a $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{41}^2$ range extending 2 (3) orders of magnitude above (below) $1{\mathrm{eV}}^2$ . NOvA finds no evidence for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations under the $3+1$ model at 90% confidence level. New limits are reported in multiple regions of parameter space, excluding some regions currently allowed by IceCube at 90% confidence level. We additionally set the most stringent limits for anomalous ${\nu }_{\tau }$ appearance for $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{41}^2\le 3{\mathrm{eV}}^2$ . Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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