Neutrinos and Dark Matter

Searching for new dark forces at lower-energy experiments

Searching for new dark forces at lower-energy experiments: New forces may exist beyond those described by the Standard Model. The characteristic energy of a new force can be much smaller than that of the weak force provided it interacts only very feebly with regular matter. One of the most promising ways to discover such new dark forces is in lower-energy beam dump experiments in which a very intense beam is directed at a material target. As reported in the Journal of High Energy Physics (2014), TRIUMF theorists investigated new ways to apply existing beam dump experiments (usually designed for other scientific objectives) to look for dark forces and new particles associated with them. They also connected theories of dark forces with limits from cosmology and direct searches for dark matter.