European Spallation Source as a searching tool for an ultralight scalar field

Abstract

Dark matter (DM) nature is one of the major issues in physics. The search for a DM candidate has motivated the known proposal of an ultralight scalar field (ULSF). We explore the possibility to search for this ULSF at the upcoming European Spallation Source neutrino Super-Beam experiment. We have considered the recent study case in which there could be an interaction between the ULSF and active neutrinos. We have found that in this future experimental setup, the sensitivity is competitive with other neutrino physics experiments. We show the expected future sensitivity for the main parameter modeling the interaction between ULSF and neutrinos.

Comments: 27 pages, 3 figures. Section added, extended discussion. To appear in PRD