Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
DOI
10.1103/2k3q-9mhj
Publication Title
Physical Review D
Volume
113
Issue
3
Pages
032019
Abstract
The Heavy Photon Search experiment (HPS) is a fixed-target, electron beam experiment designed to search for 𝑒+𝑒− mass resonances and displaced decays using a forward acceptance spectrometer. This paper details the search for naturally long-lived “dark” vector mesons (𝑉𝐷) arising from a dark sector of beyond-Standard-Model strongly interacting massive particles, characterized by a QCD-like 𝑆𝑈(3)𝐷 symmetry and coupled to the Standard Model photon via a new 𝑈(1)𝐷 gauge interaction mediated by the “heavy photon,” or 𝐴′. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 10 608 nb−1 collected during the 2016 HPS engineering run. The displaced vertex search for 𝑉𝐷→ 𝑒+𝑒− in the 𝑒+𝑒− invariant mass range 39–179 MeV showed no statistically significant evidence for signal above the QED background.
Rights
© 2026 The Authors.
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the authors and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.
Data Availability
Article states: "The data that support the findings of this article are not publicly available upon publication because it is not technically feasible and/or the cost of preparing, depositing, and hosting the data would be prohibitive within the terms of this research project. The data are available from the authors upon reasonable request."
Original Publication Citation
Adrian, P. H., Baltzell, N. A., Battaglieri, M., Bondí, M., Boyarinov, S., Bravo, C., Bueltmann, S., Butti, P., Burkert, V. D., Calvo, D., Cao, T., Carpinelli, M., Celentano, A., Charles, G., Colaneri, L., Cooper, W., Crowe, B., Cuevas, C., D'Angelo, A.,…Wojtsekhowski, B. (2026). First displaced vertex search for electroproduced dark-sector strongly interacting massive particles by the HPS experiment. Physical Review D, 113(3), Article 032019. https://doi.org/10.1103/2k3q-9mhj
ORCID
0000-0001-5416-2900 (Weinstein)
Repository Citation
Adrian, P. H.; Baltzell, N. A.; Battaglieri, M.; Bondí, M.; Boyarinov, S.; Bravo, C.; Bueltmann, S.; Butti, P.; Burkert, V. D.; Calvo, D.; Cao, T.; Carpinelli, M.; Celentano, A.; Charles, G.; Colaneri, L.; Cooper, W.; Crowe, B.; Cuevas, C.; Angelo, A. D'; Dashyan, N.; Napoli, M. De; Vita, R. De; Deur, A.; Diamond, M.; Dupre, R.; Egiyan, H.; Eichlersmith, T.; Elouadrhiri, L.; Essig, R.; Fadeyev, V.; Field, C.; Filippi, A.; Freyberger, A.; Gaiser, S.; Garçon, M.; Gevorgyan, N.; Girod, F. X.; Graf, N.; Graham, M.; Griffioen, K. A.; Grillo, A.; Guidal, M.; Herbst, R.; Holtrop, M.; Jaros, J.; Johnson, R. P.; Kalicy, G.; Khandaker, M.; Kubarovsky, V.; Leonora, E.; Livingston, K.; Marsicano, L.; Maruyama, T.; McCarty, S.; McCormick, J.; McKinnon, B.; Moffeit, K.; Moreno, O.; Munoz Camacho, C.; Nelson, T.; Niccolai, S.; Odian, A.; O'Dwyer, R.; Oriunno, M.; Osipenko, M.; Paremuzyan, R.; Paul, S.; Peets, E.; Randazzo, N.; Raydo, B.; Reese, B.; Rizzo, A.; Schuster, P.; Sharabian, Y. G.; Simi, G.; Simonyan, A.; Sipala, V.; Spellman, A.; Sokhan, D.; Solt, M.; Stepanyan, S.; Szumila-Vance, H.; Tompkins, L.; Toro, N.; Uemura, S.; Ungaro, M.; Voskanyan, H.; Weinstein, L. B.; and Wojtsekhowski, B., "First Displaced Vertex Search for Electroproduced Dark-Sector Strongly Interacting Massive Particles by the HPS Experiment" (2026). Physics Faculty Publications. 1043.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/physics_fac_pubs/1043