Electron-ion collider as a discovery tool for invisible dark bosons

We illustrate how the future electron-ion collider (EIC) can be used to discover dark bosons with masses in the <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:mrow><a:mo>∼</a:mo><a:mo stretchy="false">(</a:mo><a:mn>10</a:mn><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mi>MeV</a:mi><a:mtext>−</a:mtext><a:mn>10</a:mn><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mtext> </a:mtext><a:mi>GeV</a:mi><a:mo stretchy="false">)</a:mo></a:mrow></a:math> regime, having a wide range of properties. We only require that the dark bosons have a non-negligible weak coupling to electrons and decay with the <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><e:mi mathvariant="script">O</e:mi><e:mrow><e:mo stretchy="false">(</e:mo><e:mn>1</e:mn><e:mo stretchy="false">)</e:mo></e:mrow></e:math> branching fraction into invisible final states. Our signal selection takes advantage of the excellent electron beam kinematic measurements and the capability to tag incoherent scattering, as envisioned at the EIC. This makes the EIC a powerful tool for uncovering potential dark sector forces, for a variety of possibilities.