Search for dark forces at KLOE-2

• Published in: EPJ Web of conferences 2019, Vol.212, p.6002
• Main Author: Perez del Rio, Elena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomical models; Broken symmetry; Higgs bosons; Quarks; Standard model (particle physics)
• ISSN: 2100-014X; 2101-6275; 2100-014X
• DOI: 10.1051/epjconf/201921206002

During the last years several Dark Sector Models have been proposed in order to address striking and puzzling astrophysical observations which fail standard interpretations. In the minimal case a new vector particle, the so called dark photon or U-boson, is introduced, with small coupling with Standard Model particles. Also, the existence of a dark Higgs boson h’ is postulated, in analogy with the Standard Model, to give mass to the U-boson through the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking mechanism. The discovery of such a Dark Force Mediator would belong to a new field of Physics Beyond the Standard Model. The KLOE experiment, working on the DAΦNE e + e − collider in Frascati, searched for the existence of the U-boson in a quite complete way, investigating several different processes and final states. Tight limits on the model parameters have been set at 90%CL. Further improvements are expected in terms of sensitivity and discovery potential with the new KLOE-2 detector working on the improved DAΦNE e + e − collider, which has collected more than 5 fb − 1.