Dark matter signals from timing spectra at neutrino experiments

Understand

We propose a novel strategy to search for new physics in timing spectra, envisioning the situation in which a new particle comes from the decay of its heavier partner with a finite particle width.

• The timing distribution of events induced by the dark matter particle scattering at the detector may populate in a relatively narrow range, forming a "resonance-like" shape.
• Due to this structural feature, the signal may be isolated from the backgrounds, in particular when the backgrounds are uniformly distributed in energy and time.
• For proof of the principle, we investigate the discovery potential for dark matter from the decay of a dark photon in the COHERENT experiment, and show the exciting prospects for exploring the associated parameter space with this experiment.