Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026
07:46
Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Search for low-mass dark-sector Higgs bosons
J P Lees1, V Poireau, V Tisserand
1Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Université de Savoie, CNRS/IN2P3, Annecy-Le-Vieux, France.
Physical Review Letters
|September 26, 2012
Summary
Researchers searched for a dark Higgs boson using BABAR detector data. No significant signal was observed, leading to upper limits on dark sector interactions. This advances dark matter research.
Area of Science:
- Particle physics
- Astrophysics
- Cosmology
Background:
- Astrophysical and terrestrial experiments suggest a hidden 'dark sector' interacting with the Standard Model.
- This dark sector may contain GeV-scale gauge bosons and new Higgs bosons.
- These particles could mediate forces beyond the known fundamental forces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a direct search for a hypothetical dark Higgs boson.
- To constrain the properties of the dark sector based on experimental data.
- To test theoretical models proposing new fundamental particles and interactions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a large dataset of 516 fb^-1 collected by the BABAR detector.
- Performed a search for signatures indicative of a dark Higgs boson.
- Analyzed data to set exclusion limits on model parameters.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant signal for a dark Higgs boson was detected.
- 90% confidence level upper limits were established.
- These limits constrain the product of the Standard Model-dark-sector mixing angle and the dark-sector coupling constant.
Conclusions:
- The absence of a signal places constraints on the existence and properties of a dark Higgs boson.
- This result contributes to narrowing the parameter space for dark sector models.
- Further experimental searches are needed to fully explore the dark sector parameter space.
Related Concept Videos
01:10Detection of Black Holes
Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
01:14Gravitation Between Spherically Symmetric Masses
The gravitational potential energy between two spherically symmetric bodies can be calculated from the masses and the distance between the bodies, assuming that the center of mass is concentrated at the respective centers of the bodies.
01:12Reduced Mass Coordinates: Isolated Two-body Problem
In classical mechanics, the two-body problem is one of the fundamental problems describing the motion of two interacting bodies under gravity or any other central force. When considering the motion of two bodies, one of the most important concepts is the reduced mass coordinates, a quantity that allows the two-body problem to be solved like a single-body problem. In these circumstances, it is assumed that a single body with reduced mass revolves around another body fixed in a position with an...
01:21Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
No object with a finite mass can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. This fact has an interesting consequence in the domain of extremely high gravitational fields.
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape velocity with the...
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape velocity with the...
01:15High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS)
The resolution of a mass spectrometer depends on the efficiency of separating ions with different ion masses. The mass of an atom is approximated to the sum of the masses of protons and neutrons inside, considering the masses of protons and neutrons as equal. However, the masses of the proton (1.6726 × 10−24 g) and neutron (1.6749 × 10−24 g) are not truly equal. There is a minor error in the expression of atomic masses relative to the simplest atom of hydrogen. For example, the mass of helium...
01:12Fermi Level Dynamics
The vacuum level denotes the energy threshold required for an electron to escape from a material surface. It is usually positioned above the conduction band of a semiconductor and acts as a benchmark for comparing electron energies within various materials.
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...