First Search for Dark Sector e⁺e⁻ Explanations of the MiniBooNE Anomaly at MicroBooNE

We present MicroBooNE’s first search for dark sector e⁺e⁻ explanations of the long-standing MiniBooNE anomaly. The MiniBooNE anomaly has garnered significant attention over the past 20 years including previous MicroBooNE investigations into both anomalous electron and photon excesses, but its origin still remains unclear. In this talk we present the first direct test of dark sector models in which dark neutrinos, produced through neutrino-induced scattering, decay into missing energy and visible e⁺e⁻ pairs that could comprise the MiniBooNE anomaly. Many such models have recently gained traction as a viable solution to the anomaly while evading past bounds. Using an exposure of 6.87×1020 protons-on-target in the Booster Neutrino Beam, we implement a selection targeting forward-going, coherently produced e⁺e⁻ events to study this possibility. This talk will present the results of this targeted dark sector search and summarize the latest three recently presented MicroBooNE photon results, along with discussing their connection to this e⁺e⁻ result.

Links

A link to the paper is available at arXiv:2502.10900.