GeV-scale dark matter: production at the Main Injector

A bstract Assuming that dark matter particles interact with quarks via a GeV-scale mediator, we study dark matter production in fixed target collisions. The ensuing signal in a neutrino near detector consists of neutral-current events with an energy distribution peaked at higher values than the neutrino background. We find that for a Z ′ boson of mass around a few GeV that decays to dark matter particles, the dark matter beam produced by the Main Injector at Fermilab allows the exploration of a range of values for the gauge coupling that currently satisfy all experimental constraints. The NO ν A near detector is well positioned for probing the presence of a dark matter beam, and future LBNF near detectors would provide more sensitive probes.