Proposal for Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter via Charged Lepton Flavor Violation
Abstract
We propose a dark matter direct-detection strategy using charged particle decays at accelerator-based experiments. If ultralight (m_{ϕ}≪eV) dark matter has a misalignment abundance, its local field oscillates in time at a frequency set by its mass. If it also couples to flavor-changing neutral currents, rare exotic decays such as μ→eϕ^{'} and τ→e(μ)ϕ^{'} inherit this modulation. Focusing on such charged lepton flavor-violating decays, we show that sufficient event samples can enable detection of ultralight dark matter candidates at Mu3e, Belle-II, and FCC-ee.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
Particle Detector Development and Performance
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 25
- Pages
- 251801–251801
- Publication date
- 15 May 2026
- Language
- EN