Millicharged particles appear in several extensions of the standard model, but have not yet been detected. These hypothetical particles could be produced by an intense proton beam striking a fixed target. We use data collected in 2020 by the SENSEI experiment in the MINOS cavern at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to search for ultrarelativistic millicharged particles produced in collisions of protons in the NuMI beam with a fixed graphite target. The absence of any ionization events with 3 to 6 electrons in the SENSEI data allow us to place world-leading constraints on millicharged particles for masses between 30 to 380 MeV. This work also demonstrates the potential of utilizing low-threshold detectors to investigate new particles in beam-dump experiments, and motivates a future experiment designed specifically for this purpose.
Title
Search by the SENSEI Experiment for Millicharged Particles Produced in the NuMI Beam
Author
Barak, Liron : Tel-Aviv University
Bloch, Itay M. : University of California, Berkeley
Botti, Ana M. : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Cababie, Mariano : Universidad de Bueno Aires
Cancelo, Gustavo : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda A. : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Chaplinsky, Luke : University of Massachusetts
Crisler, Michael : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Drlica-Wagner, Alex : University of Chicago
Essig, Rouven : Stony Brook University
Estrada, Juan : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Etzion, Erez : Tel-Aviv University
Fernandez Moroni, Guillermo : Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Holland, Stephen E. : Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Korn, Yaron : Tel-Aviv University
Lawson, Ian : SNOLAB
Luoma, Steffon : SNOLAB
Munagavalasa, Sravan : University of Chicago
Orly, Aviv : Tel-Aviv University
Perez, Santiago E. : Universidad de Buenos Aires
Content Type
Article
Published in
Physical Review Letters
Funding Information
Heising-Simons Foundation, 79921
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-AC02-07CH11359
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-AC02-05CH11231
U.S. Department of Energy, SC0009854
Simons Foundation, Simons Investigator in Physics Award, 623940
I-CORE Program of the Planning Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation, 1937/12
European Research Council, EU Horizon 2020 Programme, 682676 LDMThExp
The Ambrose Monell Foundation
Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program
Alexander Zaks Scholarship
The Buchmann Scholarship
Azrieli Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy, Neutrino Theory Network Program Grant, DEAC02-07CHI11359
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-SC0020250
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-SC0011632
Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canada Foundation for Innovation, Major Science Initiatives Fund
Province of Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-SC0022345
U.S. Department of Energy, DE-SC0011842
Publication Date
2024-08-13
Language
English
Notes
Due to the large number of authors, only the first 20 and the University of Chicago authors are included on the above author list. Please download the article for the complete list of authors.
Record Created
2024-08-28