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  • Open Access

Beam-dump ceiling and its experimental implications: The case of a portable experiment

Doojin Kim1,2,*, Jaehoon Yu3,†, Jong-Chul Park4,5,‡, and Hyunyong Kim6,2,§

  • *Contact author: doojin.kim@usd.edu
  • †Contact author: jaehoon@uta.edu
  • ‡Contact author: jcpark@cnu.ac.kr
  • §Contact author: hyunyong.kim@cern.ch
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 115006 – Published 2 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5nst-v9lh

Abstract

We generalize the nature of the so-called beam-dump “ceiling” beyond which the improvement on the sensitivity reach in the search for fast-decaying mediators dramatically slows down, and we point out its experimental implications that motivate tabletop-sized beam-dump experiments for the search. Light (bosonic) mediators are well-motivated new-physics particles, as they can appear in dark-sector portal scenarios and models to explain various laboratory-based anomalies. Due to their low mass and feebly interacting nature, beam-dump-type experiments, utilizing high-intensity particle beams, can play a crucial role in probing the parameter space of such visibly decaying mediators—in particular, the “prompt decay” region, where the mediators feature relatively large coupling and mass. We present a general and semianalytic proof that the ceiling effectively arises in the prompt-decay region of an experiment and show its insensitivity to data statistics, background estimates, and systematic uncertainties, considering a concrete example, the search for axion-like particles interacting with ordinary photons at three benchmark beam facilities: PIP-II at FNAL, and SPS and LHC-dump at CERN. We then identify optimal criteria to perform a cost-effective and short-term experiment to reach the ceiling, demonstrating that very short-baseline compact experiments enable access to the parameter space unreachable thus far.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 115006– Published 2 June, 2026
  • Received 26 February 2024
  • Accepted 21 April 2026
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