Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
An Accelerator-Produced, Sub-GeV Dark Matter Search with the MiniBooNE Neutrino Detector
Presented by Dr. Robert Cooper, NM State
There is overwhelming observational evidence from cosmology and astrophysics for the existence of dark matter. For two decades, a significant experimental program has been undertaken to search for the non-gravitation interactions of dark matter with deep underground detectors. These searches are characterized by low-energy nuclear recoils, but lose sensitivity below a WIMP mass of about 1~GeV. In contrast, sub-GeV dark matter searches are well-motivated because traditional direct searches have yet to confirm a WIMP signal. The MiniBooNE experiment is searching for accelerator-produced, low-mass dark matter with the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab. To suppress neutrino elastic scattering backgrounds, the 8.9~GeV proton beam hits a steel beamstop while operating in a beam-off-target configuration with no focusing horn. The low-mass dark matter particles are part of a rich dark sector that couples to the Standard Model via a sub-GeV vector portal particle. The accelerator-boosted dark matter particles can elastically scatter with high-energy deposit on nucleons and electrons in the large detector volume and are reconstructed with high efficiency. MiniBooNE has completed its experimental run with $1.86 times 10 ^{20}$ protons-on-target and analysis is underway. In this talk, I will discuss low-mass, vector-mediated WIMP dark matter models, describe the MiniBooNE detector and the beam-off-target experiment, and summarize the expected sensitivity from the final analysis.
2:00 pm, Tuesday, March 8, 2016
PAIS-2540, PAIS
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