Searching for Elko dark matter spinors at the CERN LHC

The aim of this work is to explore the possibility to discover a fermionic field with mass dimension one, the Elko field, in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Due to its mass dimension, an Elko can only interact either with Standard Model (SM) spinors and gauge fields at 1-loop order or at tree level through a quartic interaction with the Higgs field. In this Higgs portal scenario, the Elko is a viable candidate to a dark matter constituent which has been shown to be compatible with relic abundance measurements from WMAP and direct dark matter--nucleon searches. We propose a search strategy for this dark matter candidate in the channel $pp \rightarrow l^+ l^- + \not\!\! E_T$ at the $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV LHC. We show the LHC potential to discover the Elko considering a triple Higgs-Elko coupling as small as $\sim 0.5$ after 1 pb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. Some phenomenological consequences of this new particle and its collider signatures are also discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Mass dimension one fields with Wigner degeneracy: A theory of dark matter

Whatever dark matter is, it must be one irreducible unitary representation of the extended Lorentz group or another. We here develop a formalism of mass dimension one fermions and bosons of spin one half, and show that they provide natural dark matter candidates. By construction, they are covariant under space-time translations and boosts. However, incorporating the rotational symmetry is non-trivial and requires introducing a two-fold Wigner degeneracy thus doubling the degrees of freedom for particles and anti particles from two to four. With Wigner degeneracy, we have a well-defined theory of mass dimension one fields of spin one half that are physically distinct from the Dirac field. They are local, Lorentz covariant and have positive definite free Hamiltonians. The developed framework also has the potential to resolve the cosmological constant problem, and supply dark energy.Comment: 12 page

Foreword

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Mass dimension one fermions: Constructing darkness

Let $\Theta$ be the Wigner time reversal operator for spin half and let $\phi$ be a Weyl spinor. Then, for a left-transforming $\phi$, the construct $\zeta_\lambda \Theta \phi^\ast$ yields a right-transforming spinor. If instead, $\phi$ is a right-transforming spinor, then the construct $\zeta _\rho \Theta \phi^\ast$ results in a left-transforming spinor ($\zeta_{\lambda,\rho}$ are phase factors). This allows us to introduce two sets of four-component spinors. Setting $\zeta_\lambda$ and $\zeta_\rho$ to $\pm i$ render all eight spinors as eigenspinor of the charge conjugation operator~$\mathcal{C}$ (called ELKO). This allows us to introduce two quantum fields. A calculation of the vacuum expectation value of the time-ordered product of the fields and their adjoints reveals the mass dimension of the fields to be one. Both fields are local in the canonical sense of quantum field theory. Interestingly, one of the fields is fermionic and the other bosonic. The mass dimension of the introduced fermionic fields and the matter fields of the Standard Model carry an intrinsic mismatch. As such, they provide natural darkness for the new fields with respect to the Standard Model doublets. The statistics and locality are controlled by a set of phases. These are explicitly given. Then we observe that in $p_\mu p^\mu = m^2$, Dirac took the simplest square root of the $4\times 4$ identity matrix $I$ (in $I \times m^2$, while introducing $\gamma_\mu p^\mu$ as the square root of the left hand side of the dispersion relation), and as such he implicitly ignored the remaining fifteen. When we examine the remaining roots, we obtain additional bosonic and fermionic dark matter candidates of spin half. We point out that by early nineteen seventies, Dirac had suspected the existence of spin half bosons, in the same space as his fermions. Abstract truncated.Comment: 53 page

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

DUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals