Dark sector production via proton bremsstrahlung

Experiments using proton beams at high luminosity colliders and fixed target facilities provide impressive sensitivity to new light weakly coupled degrees of freedom. With these experiments in mind, we revisit the production of dark vectors and scalars via proton bremsstrahlung, making use of a model that describes the underlying nucleon scattering cross section in the forward direction due to Pomeron exchange. We compare the resulting distributions and rates with those obtained via variants of the FermiWeizsacker-Williams approximation, and provide production rate distributions for a range of beam energies, including those relevant for the proposed Forward Physics Facility at the High Luminosity LHC.

Automated summary

Experiments using proton beams provide impressive sensitivity to new weakly coupled degrees of freedom. In this study, we revisit the production of dark vectors and scalars via proton bremsstrahlung, comparing different models and providing production rate distributions for a range of beam energies.