A Comparison of Various Dark Photon Production Mechanisms
Session Number
Project ID: PHYS 04
Advisor(s)
Dr. Peter Dong; Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Physical Science
Start Date
19-4-2023 9:20 AM
End Date
19-4-2023 9:35 AM
Abstract
A dark photon (ZD) is a theoretical boson in a new Abelian U(1) gauge symmetry which is predicted by various dark sector models. Dark photons originating from different models can all decay to collimated lepton jets via a process known as kinetic mixing. Production mechanisms for dark photons can vary widely but generally make use of a dark pseudoscalar. I present five different production mechanisms, or portals, generating dark photons from Higgs bosons, supersymmetric particles, and Z' bosons. I also compare the event signatures corresponding to each production mechanism and show that limits for each production mechanism can be parameterized from a single portal.
A Comparison of Various Dark Photon Production Mechanisms
A dark photon (ZD) is a theoretical boson in a new Abelian U(1) gauge symmetry which is predicted by various dark sector models. Dark photons originating from different models can all decay to collimated lepton jets via a process known as kinetic mixing. Production mechanisms for dark photons can vary widely but generally make use of a dark pseudoscalar. I present five different production mechanisms, or portals, generating dark photons from Higgs bosons, supersymmetric particles, and Z' bosons. I also compare the event signatures corresponding to each production mechanism and show that limits for each production mechanism can be parameterized from a single portal.