11–13 May 2026
University of Pittsburgh
US/Eastern timezone

Boosting Dark Matter with the LHC Beam: A New Forward Signature

11 May 2026, 15:30
15m
David Lawrence Hall 120, University of Pittsburgh

David Lawrence Hall 120, University of Pittsburgh

Speaker

Andrew Evans (University of California Irvine)

Description

We propose a new method for discovering dark matter through the scattering of LHC protons off ambient dark matter. Over-dense populations of dark matter may accumulate near the Earth’s surface, for example in scenarios with strongly interacting dark matter. Protons circulating in the beam traverse this over-density and scatter dark matter particles forward along the beam direction, generating a flux of boosted dark matter toward forward detectors such as FASER, where it can rescatter and produce an observable signal. We show that this mechanism yields a striking signal, providing a novel collider signature of dark matter.

Authors

Andrew Evans (University of California Irvine) Jonathan Lee Feng (University of California Irvine (US)) Dr Toni Makela (University of California, Irvine)

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