Skip to main content

Searching for light dark matter through Positronium decay

Abstract

A novel approach to detect light dark matter through the observation of a single photon in the decay of Positronium (Ps) is proposed. Branching ratio calculations indicate that light dark matter coupling to the Standard Model through a novel dark vector boson in the mass range mA = 10–500 keV with strength ϵ = 2 × 10−5–10−8 is well above the previously computed Standard Model background decay Ps → γν̄ν and could be sensitive to observation.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

References

  1. N.A. Bahcall, PNAS 112, 12243 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. D. Clowe, A. Gonzalez, M. Markevitch, Astrophys. J. 604, 596 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. D. Clowe, B. Maruša, A.H. Gonzalez, M. Markevitch, S.W. Randall, C. Jones, D. Zaritsky, Astrophys. J. 648, L109 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. M. Battaglieri et al., arXiv:1707.04591v1 (2017)

  5. G. Bertone ed. Particle dark matter (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2010)

  6. J. Alexander et al., arXiv:1608.08632v1 (2016)

  7. J. Vav’ra, Phys. Lett. B 736, 169 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. B.M. Roberts, V.A. Dzuba, V.V. Flambaum, M. Pospelov, Y.V. Stadnik, Phys. Rev. D 109, 115037 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. B.M. Roberts, V.V. Flambaum, G.F. Gribakin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 023201 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. R. Essig, A. Manalaysay, J. Mardon, P. Sorensen, T. Volansky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 021301 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. R. Essig, J. Mardon, T. Volansky, Phys. Rev. D 85, 076007 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. R. Essig, O. Mardon, O. Slone, T. Volansky, Phys. Rev. D 95, 056011 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. L. Santamaria, C. Braggio, G. Carugno, V. Di Sarno, P. Maddaloni, G. Ruoso, New J. Phys. 17, 113025 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. J. Pérez-Ríos, S.T. Love, J. Phys. B 48, 244009 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. A. Pokraka, A. Czarnecki, Phys. Rev. D 94, 113012 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. R. Essig, P. Schuster, N. Toro, Phys. Rev. D 80, 015003 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. M.E. Peskin, D.V. Shcroeder, An introduction to quantum field theory (Westview Press, Reading, MA, 1995)

  18. C. Itzykson, J. Zuber, Quantum field theory (Dover, Mineola, NY, 2005)

  19. T. Mitsui, R. Fujimoto, Y. Ishisaki, Y. Ueda, Y. Yamakazi, S. Asai, S. Orito, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2265 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. T. Mitsui, K. Maki, S. Asai, Y. Ishisaki, R. Fujimoto, N. Muramoto, T. Sato, Y. Ueda, Y. Yamakazi, S. Orito, Europhys. Lett. 33, 111 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. A. Badertscher, P. Crivelli, M. Felcini, S.N. Gininenko, N.A. Goloubev, P. Nédélec, J.P. Peigneux, V. Postoev, A. Rubbia, D. Sillou, Phys. Lett. B 542, 29 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. D. Banerjee et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 011802 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. D. Banerjee et al., arXiv:1710.00971v1 (2017)

  24. A. Badertscher, P. Crivelli, W. Fetscher, U. Gendotti, S.N. Gninenko, V. Postoev, A. Rubbia, V. Samoylenko, D. Sillou, Phys. Rev. D 75, 032004 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesús Pérez-Ríos.

Additional information

Contribution to the Topical Issue “Low Energy Positron and Electron Interactions”, edited by James Sullivan, Ron White, Michael Bromley, Ilya Fabrikant, and David Cassidy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pérez-Ríos, J., Love, S.T. Searching for light dark matter through Positronium decay. Eur. Phys. J. D 72, 44 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-80614-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-80614-7