Publications

Lμ−Lτ gauge bosons in beam dumps and supernovae

Published in arXiv preprint, 2025

We study the phenomenology of a sub-GeV Lμ−Lτ gauge boson, finding discrepancies with existing literature in sensitivity projections for SHiP and supernova cooling constraints, and present quantitative analysis of production modes in beam dumps.

Recommended citation: Nikita Blinov, Patrick J. Fox, Kevin J. Kelly, Ryan Plestid, Tao Zhou. (2025). "Lμ−Lτ gauge bosons in beam dumps and supernovae." arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.09619.
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Toward a Robust Confirmation or Refutation of the Sterile-Neutrino Explanation of Short-Baseline Anomalies

Published in Physical Review Letters, 2025

We show two methods to eliminate the degeneracy between νμ→νe and νe→νe oscillations in sterile neutrino searches, demonstrating that upcoming searches at SBND and ICARUS can provide a rigorous test of short-baseline anomalies beyond the 4σ level.

Recommended citation: Ohana Benevides Rodrigues, Matheus Hostert, Kevin J. Kelly, Bryce Littlejohn, Pedro A.N. Machado, et al. (2025). "Toward a Robust Confirmation or Refutation of the Sterile-Neutrino Explanation of Short-Baseline Anomalies." Phys.Rev.Lett. 135 (2025) 8, 081801.
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Long-lived vectors from electromagnetic cascades at SHiP

Published in Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP), 2025

We simulate dark-vector production from electromagnetic cascades at the SHiP experiment, leading to 3–4 orders of magnitude increase in event rate and significantly improved sensitivity projections for dark photons and electrophilic gauge bosons.

Recommended citation: Tao Zhou, Ryan Plestid, Kevin J. Kelly, Nikita Blinov, Patrick J. Fox. (2025). "Long-lived vectors from electromagnetic cascades at SHiP." JHEP. 02 (2025) 107.
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Decaying sterile neutrinos at short baselines

Published in Physical Review D, 2024

We revisit the decaying sterile neutrino solution to MiniBooNE and LSND puzzles using new MicroBooNE data, deriving new limits and finding that MicroBooNE rules out this solution in a large portion of parameter space at more than 99% CL.

Recommended citation: Matheus Hostert, Kevin J. Kelly, Tao Zhou. (2024). "Decaying sterile neutrinos at short baselines." Phys.Rev.D 110 (2024) 7, 075002.
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Broad Sterile Neutrinos & the Reactor/Gallium Tension

Published in Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP), 2024

We demonstrate that a broad sterile neutrino may relax the tension between radioactive source experiments and reactor measurements, providing a phenomenological solution that can arise in plausible hidden sector scenarios such as clockwork-style models.

Recommended citation: Hannah Banks, Kevin J. Kelly, Matthew McCullough, Tao Zhou. (2024). "Broad Sterile Neutrinos & the Reactor/Gallium Tension." JHEP. 04 (2024) 096.
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