Dark Sectors and New, Light, Weakly-Coupled Particles
Abstract
Dark sectors, consisting of new, light, weakly-coupled particles that do not interact with the known strong, weak, or electromagnetic forces, are a particularly compelling possibility for new physics. Nature may contain numerous dark sectors, each with their own beautiful structure, distinct particles, and forces. This review summarizes the physics motivation for dark sectors and the exciting opportunities for experimental exploration. It is the summary of the Intensity Frontier subgroup "New, Light, Weakly-coupled Particles" of the Community Summer Study 2013 (Snowmass). We discuss axions, which solve the strong CP problem and are an excellent dark matter candidate, and their generalization to axion-like particles. We also review dark photons and other dark-sector particles, including sub-GeV dark matter, which are theoretically natural, provide for dark matter candidates or new dark matter interactions, and could resolve outstanding puzzles in particle and astro-particle physics. In many cases, the exploration of dark sectors can proceed with existing facilities and comparatively modest experiments. A rich, diverse, and low-cost experimental program has been identified that has the potential for one or more game-changing discoveries. These physics opportunities should be vigorously pursued in the US and elsewhere.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1311.0029,
title = {Dark Sectors and New, Light, Weakly-Coupled Particles},
author = {R. Essig and J. A. Jaros and W. Wester and P. Hansson Adrian and S. Andreas and T. Averett and O. Baker and B. Batell and M. Battaglieri and J. Beacham and T. Beranek and J. D. Bjorken and F. Bossi and J. R. Boyce and G. D. Cates and A. Celentano and A. S. Chou and R. Cowan and F. Curciarello and H. Davoudiasl and P. deNiverville and R. De Vita and A. Denig and R. Dharmapalan and B. Dongwi and B. Döbrich and B. Echenard and D. Espriu and S. Fegan and P. Fisher and G. B. Franklin and A. Gasparian and Y. Gershtein and M. Graham and P. W. Graham and A. Haas and A. Hatzikoutelis and M. Holtrop and I. Irastorza and E. Izaguirre and J. Jaeckel and Y. Kahn and N. Kalantarians and M. Kohl and G. Krnjaic and V. Kubarovsky and H-S. Lee and A. Lindner and A. Lobanov and W. J. Marciano and D. J. E. Marsh and T. Maruyama and D. McKeen and H. Merkel and K. Moffeit and P. Monaghan and G. Mueller and T. K. Nelson and G. R. Neil and M. Oriunno and Z. Pavlovic and S. K. Phillips and M. J. Pivovaroff and R. Poltis and M. Pospelov and S. Rajendran and J. Redondo and A. Ringwald and A. Ritz and J. Ruz and K. Saenboonruang and P. Schuster and M. Shinn and T. R. Slatyer and J. H. Steffen and S. Stepanyan and D. B. Tanner and J. Thaler and M. E. Tobar and N. Toro and A. Upadye and R. Van de Water and B. Vlahovic and J. K. Vogel and D. Walker and A. Weltman and B. Wojtsekhowski and S. Zhang and K. Zioutas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.0029},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Report of the Community Summer Study 2013 (Snowmass) Intensity Frontier New, Light, Weakly-Coupled Particles subgroup