Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors

Abstract We propose to search for millicharged particles produced in high-intensity electron beam dumps using small ultralow-threshold sensors. As a concrete example, we consider a Skipper-CCD placed behind the beam dump in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. We compute the millicharged particle flux, includin...

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Main Authors: Rouven Essig, Peiran Li, Zhen Liu, Megan McDuffie, Ryan Plestid, Hailin Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-04-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2025)057
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author Rouven Essig
Peiran Li
Zhen Liu
Megan McDuffie
Ryan Plestid
Hailin Xu
author_facet Rouven Essig
Peiran Li
Zhen Liu
Megan McDuffie
Ryan Plestid
Hailin Xu
author_sort Rouven Essig
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We propose to search for millicharged particles produced in high-intensity electron beam dumps using small ultralow-threshold sensors. As a concrete example, we consider a Skipper-CCD placed behind the beam dump in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. We compute the millicharged particle flux, including both electromagnetic cascade and meson productions emanating from an aluminum target. We find that the sensitivity of a modest 2 × 14 array of Skipper-CCDs can exceed the sensitivity of all existing searches for millicharged particle masses below 1.5 GeV, and is either competitive or world leading when compared to other proposed experiments. Our results demonstrate that small-scale ultralow threshold silicon devices can enhance the reach of accelerator-based experiments, while fitting comfortably within existing experimental halls.
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institution OA Journals
issn 1029-8479
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publishDate 2025-04-01
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series Journal of High Energy Physics
spelling doaj-art-55f46eec75f64d7c8db88c0e7121572e2025-08-20T02:15:01ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-04-012025413010.1007/JHEP04(2025)057Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensorsRouven Essig0Peiran Li1Zhen Liu2Megan McDuffie3Ryan Plestid4Hailin Xu5C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook UniversitySchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of MinnesotaSchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of MinnesotaC.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook UniversityWalter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of TechnologyC.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook UniversityAbstract We propose to search for millicharged particles produced in high-intensity electron beam dumps using small ultralow-threshold sensors. As a concrete example, we consider a Skipper-CCD placed behind the beam dump in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. We compute the millicharged particle flux, including both electromagnetic cascade and meson productions emanating from an aluminum target. We find that the sensitivity of a modest 2 × 14 array of Skipper-CCDs can exceed the sensitivity of all existing searches for millicharged particle masses below 1.5 GeV, and is either competitive or world leading when compared to other proposed experiments. Our results demonstrate that small-scale ultralow threshold silicon devices can enhance the reach of accelerator-based experiments, while fitting comfortably within existing experimental halls.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2025)057Dark Matter at CollidersNew Light ParticlesSpecific BSM Phenomenology
spellingShingle Rouven Essig
Peiran Li
Zhen Liu
Megan McDuffie
Ryan Plestid
Hailin Xu
Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
Journal of High Energy Physics
Dark Matter at Colliders
New Light Particles
Specific BSM Phenomenology
title Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
title_full Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
title_fullStr Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
title_full_unstemmed Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
title_short Probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow-threshold sensors
title_sort probing millicharged particles at an electron beam dump with ultralow threshold sensors
topic Dark Matter at Colliders
New Light Particles
Specific BSM Phenomenology
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2025)057
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AT meganmcduffie probingmillichargedparticlesatanelectronbeamdumpwithultralowthresholdsensors
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