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  • Open Access

New energy-loss constraints on dark sectors from deeply inelastic scattering with initial state radiation

Justin Cammarota1,*, John Carlton1,2,†, and Susan Gardner1,‡

  • *Contact author: justin.cammarota@uky.edu
  • †Contact author: john.carlton@desy.de
  • ‡Contact author: susan.gardner@uky.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 075035 – Published 27 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rjgy-fcr8

Abstract

We employ the joint QED and QCD factorization of deeply inelastic, electron-proton scattering with generic initial state radiation to probe the possibility of exotic particle emission—i.e., of weakly coupled particles originating from a dark or hidden sector—through anomalous energy loss. We leverage this possibility through the consideration of phase-space-limited kinematic regions, for which the emission of an additional, undetected particle can particularly impact the associated cross section. In this first paper, as a proof of principle, we focus on radiation from the incoming electron, considering the modification of the lepton distribution function from the emission of particles, that could have spin of up to 2 and various, well-motivated electron couplings. We illustrate the sensitivity of our approach through the computation of the modified cross sections for the emission of MeV-GeV mass-scale, spin 0 particles in kinematics chosen for their sensitivity to initial state electron radiation and suitable to the forward-backward detection sensitivity of the ePIC detector at the Electron Ion Collider.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 075035– Published 27 October, 2026
  • Received 8 July 2026
  • Accepted 28 September 2026
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