The REDTOP experiment: a $\eta$/$\eta'$ factory to explore dark matter and physics beyond the Standard Model

The $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons are almost unique in the particle universe since they are Goldstone boson and the dynamics of their decay are strongly constrained.  The integrated eta meson samples collected in earlier experiments have been about ~$10^9$ events, dominated by the WASA at Cosy experiment, limiting considerably the search for such rare decays.  A new experiment, REDTOP, is being proposed, aiming at collecting more than $10^{14}$ eta/yr ($10^{12}$ eta'/yr) for studying of rare $\eta$ decays. 

Such statistics are sufficient for investigating several symmetry violations, and for searches of new particles beyond the Standard Model.

Recent physics and detector studies indicate that REDTOP has excellent sensitivity to probe all four portals connecting the dark sector with the Standard Model. Furthermore, conservation laws and violation of discrete symmetries can be probed in several ways. 

The physics program and the detector for REDTOP will be discussed during the presentation.