skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: CMB spectral distortions from an axion-dark photon-photon interaction
A<sc>bstract</sc> The presence of a plethora of light spin 0 and spin 1 fields is motivated in a number of BSM scenarios, such as the axiverse. The study of the interactions of such light bosonic fields with the Standard Model has focused mostly on interactions involving only one such field, such as the axion (ϕ) coupling to photons,$$\phi F\widetilde{F}$$, or the kinetic mixing between photon and the dark photon,FFD. In this work, we continue the exploration of interactions involving two light BSM fields and the standard model, focusing on the mixed axion-photon-dark-photon interaction$$\phi F{\widetilde{F}}_{D}$$. If either the axion or dark photon are dark matter, we show that this interaction leads to conversion of the CMB photons into a dark sector particle, leading to a distortion in the CMB spectrum. We present the details of these unique distortion signatures and the resulting constraints on the$$\phi F{\widetilde{F}}_{D}$$coupling. In particular, we find that for a wide range of masses, the constraints from these effect are stronger than on the more widely studied axion-photon coupling.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2210361
PAR ID:
10506974
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
JHEP
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of High Energy Physics
Volume:
2024
Issue:
5
ISSN:
1029-8479
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; (, Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> Cosmologically stable, light particles that came into thermal contact with the Standard Model in the early universe may persist today as a form of hot dark matter. For relics with masses in the eV range, their role in structure formation depends critically on their mass. We trace the evolution of such hot relics and derive their density profiles around cold dark matter halos, introducing a framework for theirindirect detection. Applying this framework to axions — a natural candidate for a particle that can reach thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model in the early universe and capable of decaying into two photons — we establish stringent limits on the axion-photon couplinggaγusing current observations of dwarf galaxies, the Milky Way halo, and galaxy clusters. Our results set new bounds on hot axions in the$$ \mathcal{O}\left(1-10\right) $$ O 1 − 10 eV range. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> This paper describes a search for dark photons (γd) in proton-proton collisions at$$ \sqrt{s} $$ s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The dark photons are searched for in the decay of Higgs bosons (H→γγd) produced through theZHproduction mode. The transverse mass of the system, made of the photon and the missing transverse momentum from the non-interactingγd, presents a distinctive signature as it peaks near the Higgs boson mass. The results presented use the total Run-2 integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dominant reducible background processes are estimated using data-driven techniques. A Boosted Decision Tree technique is adopted to enhance the sensitivity of the search. As no excess is observed with respect to the Standard Model prediction, an observed (expected) upper limit on the branching ratio BR(H→γγd) of 2.28% ($$ {2.82}_{-0.84}^{+1.33}\% $$ 2.82 − 0.84 + 1.33 % ) is set at 95% CL for masslessγd. For massive dark photons up to 40 GeV, the observed (expected) upper limits on BR(H→γγd) at 95% confidence level is found within the [2.19,2.52]% ([2.71,3.11]%) range. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; (, Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> We study flavor changing neutral current decays ofBandKmesons in the dark U(1)Dmodel, with the dark photon/darkZmass between 10 MeV and 2 GeV. Although the model provides an improved fit (compared to the standard model) to the differential decay distributions ofB → K(∗)ℓ+ℓ−, withℓ=μ,e, andBs→ ϕμ+μ−, the allowed parameter space is ruled out by measurements of atomic parity violation,K+→ μ++invisibledecay, and$$ {B}_s-{\overline{B}}_s $$ B s − B ¯ s mixing, among others. To evade constraints from low energy data, we extend the model to allow for (1) additional invisibleZDdecay, (2) a direct vector coupling ofZDto muons, and (3) a direct coupling ofZDto both muons and electrons, with the electron coupling fine-tuned to cancel theZDcoupling to electrons via mixing. We find that only the latter case survives all constraints. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; (, Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> We propose to use the nuclear spin excitation in the ferromagnetic A1phase of the superfluid3He for the axion dark matter detection. This approach is striking in that it is sensitive to the axion-nucleon coupling, one of the most important features of the QCD axion introduced to solve the strong CP problem. We review a quantum mechanical description of the nuclear spin excitation and apply it to the estimation of the axion-induced spin excitation rate. We also describe a possible detection method of the spin excitation in detail and show that the combination of the squeezing of the final state with the Josephson parametric amplifier and the homodyne measurement can enhance the sensitivity. It turns out that this approach gives good sensitivity to the axion dark matter with the mass of$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O (1) μeV depending on the size of the external magnetic field. We estimate the parameters of experimental setups, e.g., the detector volume and the amplitude of squeezing, required to reach the QCD axion parameter space. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, Journal of High Energy Physics)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> Atomic dark matter is a simple but highly theoretically motivated possibility for an interacting dark sector that could constitute some or all of dark matter. We perform a comprehensive study of precision cosmological observables on minimal atomic dark matter, exploring for the first time the full parameter space of dark QED coupling and dark electron and proton masses (αD,$$ {m}_{e_D} $$ m e D ,$$ {m}_{p_D} $$ m p D ) as well as the two cosmological parameters of aDM mass fractionfDand temperature ratioξat time of SM recombination. We also show how aDM can accommodate the (H0, S8) tension from late-time measurements, leading to a better fit than ΛCDM or ΛCDM + dark radiation. Furthermore, including late-time measurements leads to closed contours of preferredξand dark hydrogen binding energy. The dark proton mass is seemingly unconstrained. Our results serve as an important new jumping-off point for future precision studies of atomic dark matter at non-linear and smaller scales. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email