Abstract
We study cosmic-ray-atmosphere collisions as a permanent production source of exotic millicharged particles (MCPs) for all terrestrial experiments. [MCPs are also known as charged massive particles (CHAMPs).] Based on data from Super-K, this allows us to derive new limits on MCPs that are competitive with, or improve, the currently leading bounds from accelerator-based searches for masses up to 1.5 GeV. In models where a subdominant component of dark matter (DM) is fractionally charged, these constraints probe parts of the parameter space that is inaccessible for conventional direct-detection DM experiments, independently of assumptions about the DM abundance.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 115032 |
Journal | Physical Review D |
Volume | 102 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 24 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.