Sensitivity of the RECODE Reactor CEvNS Experiment to the Dark Axion Portal

Abstract

Reactor CEvNS experiments provide a powerful probe of the physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) with the intense flux of neutrinos, photons, and other particles produced in nuclear reactors. In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of reactor CEvNS experiments to the dark axion portal, which connects the axion or axion-like particle to the dark photon. We focus in particular on the RECODE experiment, while also considering other reactor-based experiments such as CONUS and MINER. We find that reactor CEvNS experiments offer enhanced sensitivity in the sub-MeV region compared with the existing constraints from B factories, and can probe the portal coupling down to $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ for $G_{a\gamma\gamma'}$.