A search for sub-GeV dark matter production mediated by a new vector boson A , called dark photon, is performed by the NA64 experiment in missing energy events from 100 GeV electron interactions in an active beam dump at the CERN SPS. From the analysis of the data collected in the years 2016, 2017, and 2018 with 2.84 × 10 11 electrons on target no evidence of such a process has been found. The most stringent constraints on the A mixing strength with photons and the parameter space for the scalar and fermionic dark matter in the mass range 1 GeV are derived. Thus, demonstrating the power of the active beam dump approach for the dark matter search.

NA62 is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS dedicated to measurements of rare kaon decays. Such measurements, like the branching fraction of the K+ → π+ ν ν̄ decay, have the potential to bring significant insights into new physics processes when comparison is made with precise theoretical predictions. For this purpose, innovative techniques have been developed, in particular, in the domain of low-mass tracking devices. Detector construction spanned several years from 2009 to 2014. The collaboration started detector commissioning in 2014 and will collect data until the end of 2018. The beam line and detector components are described together with their early performance obtained from 2014 and 2015 data.

Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) are hypothetical particles predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model. These particles can, among other things, explain the origin of neutrino masses, generate the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe and provide a dark matter candidate. The SHiP experiment will be able to search for HNLs produced in decays of heavy mesons and travelling distances ranging between O(50 m) and tens of kilometers before decaying. We present the sensitivity of the SHiP experiment to a number of HNL's benchmark models and provide a way to calculate the SHiP's sensitivity to HNLs for arbitrary patterns of flavour mixings. The corresponding tools and data files are also made publicly available.

The NA62 experiment reports the branching ratio measurement $$ \mathrm{BR}\left({K}^{+}\to {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu}\right)=\left({10.6}_{-3.4}^{+4.0}\left|{}_{\mathrm{stat}}\right.\pm {0.9}_{\mathrm{syst}}\right)\times {10}^{-11} $$ BR K + → π + ν ν ¯ = 10.6 − 3.4 + 4.0 stat ± 0.9 syst × 10 − 11 at 68% CL, based on the observation of 20 signal candidates with an expected background of 7.0 events from the total data sample collected at the CERN SPS during 2016–2018. This provides evidence for the very rare K+→$$ {\pi}^{+}\nu \overline{\nu} $$ π + ν ν ¯ decay, observed with a significance of 3.4σ. The experiment achieves a single event sensitivity of (0.839 ± 0.054) × 10−11, corresponding to 10.0 events assuming the Standard Model branching ratio of (8.4 ± 1.0) × 10−11. This measurement is also used to set limits on BR(K+→ π+X), where X is a scalar or pseudo-scalar particle. Details are given of the analysis of the 2018 data sample, which corresponds to about 80% of the total data sample.

The improved results on a direct search for a new X(16.7 MeV) boson that could explain the anomalous excess of e + e − pairs observed in the decays of the excited 8 Be * nucleus ("Berillium anomaly") are reported. The X boson could be produced in the bremsstrahlung reaction e − Z → e − ZX by a high energy beam of electrons incident on the active target in the NA64 experiment at the CERN SPS and observed through its subsequent decay into e + e − pair. No evidence for such decays was found from the combined analysis of the data samples with total statistics corresponding to 8.4 × 10 10 electrons on target collected in 2017 and 2018. This allows to set the new limits on the X − e − coupling in the range 1.2 × 10 −4 e 6.8 × 10 −4 , excluding part of the parameter space favored by the Berillium anomaly. The non-observation of the decay A → e + e − allows also to set the new bounds on the mixing strength of photons with dark photons (A ) with a mass 24 MeV.Recently, the search for new light bosons weakly coupled to SM particles was additionally inspired by the observation in the ATOMKI experiment by Krasznahorkay et al. [1,2] of a ∼7σ excess of events in the invariant mass distribution of e + e − pairs produced in the nuclear transitions of the excited 8 Be * to its ground state via internal pair creation. It was shown that this anomaly can be interpreted as the emission of a protophobic gauge boson X with a mass of 16.7 MeV decaying into e + e − pair [3,4]. This explanation of the anomaly was found to be consistent with the existing constraints assuming that the X has non-universal coupling to quarks, coupling to electrons in the range 2 × 10 −4 e 1.4 × 10 −3 and lifetime 10 −14 τ X 10 −12 s. It is interesting that a new boson with such relatively large couplings to charged leptons could also resolve the so-called (g µ − 2 ) anomaly, a discrepancy between measured and predicted values of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. This has motivated worldwide efforts towards the experimental searches, see, e.g., Refs. [5,6], and studies of the phenomenological aspects of light vector bosons weakly coupled to quarks and leptons, see, e.g., and also earlier works of Refs. [13][14][15][16]. The latest experimental results from the ATOMKI group show a similar excess of events at approximately the same invariant mass in the nuclear transitions of another nucleus, 4 He [17]. This further increases the importance of independent searches for a new particle X.Another strong motivation to search for new light bosons decaying into e + e − pair comes from the dark matter puzzle. An interesting possibility is that in addition to gravity a new force between the dark sector and visible matter, carried by a new vector boson A , called dark photon, might exist [18,19]. Such A could have a mass