Records |
Author |
Lopez-Honorez, L.; Mena, O.; Palomares-Ruiz, S.; Villanueva-Domingo, P.; Witte, S.J. |
Title |
Variations in fundamental constants at the cosmic dawn |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. |
Volume |
06 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
026 - 25pp |
Keywords |
cosmology of theories beyond the SM; particle physics – cosmology connection; reionization |
Abstract |
The observation of space-time variations in fundamental constants would provide strong evidence for the existence of new light degrees of freedom in the theory of Nature. Robustly constraining such scenarios requires exploiting observations that span different scales and probe the state of the Universe at different epochs. In the context of cosmology, both the cosmic microwave background and the Lyman-a forest have proven to be powerful tools capable of constraining variations in electromagnetism, however at the moment there do not exist cosmological probes capable of bridging the gap between recombination and reionization. In the near future, radio telescopes will attempt to measure the 21 cm transition of neutral hydrogen during the epochs of reionization and the cosmic dawn (and potentially the tail end of the dark ages); being inherently sensitive to electromagnetic phenomena, these experiments will offer a unique perspective on space-time variations of the fine-structure constant and the electron mass. We show here that large variations in these fundamental constants would produce features on the 21 cm power spectrum that may be distinguishable from astrophysical uncertainties. Furthermore, we forecast the sensitivity for the Square Kilometer Array, and show that the 21 cm power spectrum may be able to constrain variations at the level of O(10(-3)). |
Address |
[Lopez-Honorez, Laura] Univ Libre Bruxelles, Serv Phys Theor, CP225, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium, Email: llopezho@ulb.ac.be; |
Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
Iop Publishing Ltd |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1475-7516 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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Notes |
WOS:000551875400049 |
Approved |
no |
Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
4473 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
Witte, S.J.; Rosauro-Alcaraz, S.; McDermott, S.D.; Poulin, V. |
Title |
Dark photon dark matter in the presence of inhomogeneous structure |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
Journal of High Energy Physics |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. High Energy Phys. |
Volume |
06 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
35pp |
Keywords |
Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM; Thermal Field Theory |
Abstract |
Dark photon dark matter will resonantly convert into visible photons when the dark photon mass is equal to the plasma frequency of the ambient medium. In cosmological contexts, this transition leads to an extremely efficient, albeit short-lived, heating of the surrounding gas. Existing work in this field has been predominantly focused on understanding the implications of these resonant transitions in the limit that the plasma frequency of the Universe can be treated as being perfectly homogeneous, i.e. neglecting inhomogeneities in the electron number density. In this work we focus on the implications of heating from dark photon dark matter in the presence of inhomogeneous structure (which is particularly relevant for dark photons with masses in the range 10(-15) eV less than or similar to m(A ') less than or similar to 10(-12) eV), emphasizing both the importance of inhomogeneous energy injection, as well as the sensitivity of cosmological observations to the inhomogeneities themselves. More specifically, we derive modified constraints on dark photon dark matter from the Ly-alpha forest, and show that the presence of inhomogeneities allows one to extend constraints to masses outside of the range that would be obtainable in the homogeneous limit, while only slightly relaxing their strength. We then project sensitivity for near-future cosmological surveys that are hoping to measure the 21cm transition in neutral hydrogen prior to reionization, and demonstrate that these experiments will be extremely useful in improving sensitivity to masses near similar to 10(-14) eV, potentially by several orders of magnitude. Finally, we discuss implications for reionization, early star formation, and late-time y-type spectral distortions, and show that probes which are inherently sensitive to the inhomogeneous state of the Universe could resolve signatures unique to the light dark photon dark matter scenario, and thus offer a fantastic potential for a positive detection. |
Address |
[Witte, Samuel J.] Univ Valencia, CSIC, Inst Fis Corpuscular IFIC, Valencia, Spain, Email: Samuel.Witte@ific.uv.es; |
Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
Springer |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1029-8479 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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Notes |
WOS:000543433700003 |
Approved |
no |
Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
4447 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
Hooper, D.; Leane, R.K.; Tsai, Y.D.; Wegsman, S.; Witte, S.J. |
Title |
A systematic study of hidden sector dark matter: application to the gamma-ray and antiproton excesses |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
Journal of High Energy Physics |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. High Energy Phys. |
Volume |
07 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
163 - 38pp |
Keywords |
Beyond Standard Model; Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM |
Abstract |
In hidden sector models, dark matter does not directly couple to the particle content of the Standard Model, strongly suppressing rates at direct detection experiments, while still allowing for large signals from annihilation. In this paper, we conduct an extensive study of hidden sector dark matter, covering a wide range of dark matter spins, mediator spins, interaction diagrams, and annihilation final states, in each case determining whether the annihilations are s-wave (thus enabling efficient annihilation in the universe today). We then go on to consider a variety of portal interactions that allow the hidden sector annihilation products to decay into the Standard Model. We broadly classify constraints from relic density requirements and dwarf spheroidal galaxy observations. In the scenario that the hidden sector was in equilibrium with the Standard Model in the early universe, we place a lower bound on the portal coupling, as well as on the dark matter's elastic scattering cross section with nuclei. We apply our hidden sector results to the observed Galactic Center gamma-ray excess and the cosmic-ray antiproton excess. We find that both of these excesses can be simultaneously explained by a variety of hidden sector models, without any tension with constraints from observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. |
Address |
[Hooper, Dan; Tsai, Yu-Dai] Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, Fermilab, Batavia, IL 60510 USA, Email: dhooper@fnal.gov; |
Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
Springer |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1029-8479 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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Notes |
WOS:000555828300002 |
Approved |
no |
Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
4491 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
McDermott, S.D.; Witte, S.J. |
Title |
Cosmological evolution of light dark photon dark matter |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
Physical Review D |
Abbreviated Journal |
Phys. Rev. D |
Volume |
101 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
063030 - 14pp |
Keywords |
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Abstract |
Light dark photons are subject to various plasma effects, such as Debye screening and resonant oscillations, which can lead to a more complex cosmological evolution than is experienced by conventional cold dark matter candidates. Maintaining a consistent history of dark photon dark matter requires ensuring that the superthennal abundance present in the early Universe (i) does not deviate significantly after the formation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and (ii) does not excessively leak into the Standard Model plasma after big band nucleosynthesis (BBN). We point out that the role of nonresonant absorption, which has previously been neglected in cosmological studies of this dark matter candidate, produces strong constraints on dark photon dark matter with mass as low as 10(-22) eV. Furthermore, we show that resonant conversion of dark photons after recombination can produce excessive heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM) which is capable of prematurely reionizing hydrogen and helium, leaving a distinct imprint on both the Ly-a forest and the integrated optical depth of the CMB. Our constraints surpass existing cosmological bounds by more than 5 orders of magnitude across a wide range of dark photon masses. |
Address |
[McDermott, Samuel D.] Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, Theoret Astrophys Grp, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA |
Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
Amer Physical Soc |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
2470-0010 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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Notes |
WOS:000522168800002 |
Approved |
no |
Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
4346 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
Escudero, M.; Witte, S.J. |
Title |
A CMB search for the neutrino mass mechanism and its relation to the Hubble tension |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
European Physical Journal C |
Abbreviated Journal |
Eur. Phys. J. C |
Volume |
80 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
294 - 10pp |
Keywords |
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Abstract |
The majoron, a pseudo-Goldstone boson arising from the spontaneous breaking of global lepton number, is a generic feature of many models intended to explain the origin of the small neutrino masses. In this work, we investigate potential imprints in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) arising from massive majorons, should they thermalize with neutrinos after Big Bang Nucleosynthesis via inverse neutrino decays. We show that Planck2018 measurements of the CMB are currently sensitive to neutrino-majoron couplings as small as lambda similar to 10-13, which if interpreted in the context of the type-I seesaw mechanism correspond to a lepton number symmetry breaking scale vL similar to O(100)GeV Additionally, we identify parameter space for which the majoron-neutrino interactions, collectively with an extra contribution to the effective number of relativistic species Neff, can ameliorate the outstanding H0 tension. |
Address |
[Escudero, Miguel] Kings Coll London, Dept Phys, London WC2R 2LS, England, Email: miguel.escudero@kcl.ac.uk; |
Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
Springer |
Place of Publication |
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Editor |
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Language |
English |
Summary Language |
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Original Title |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1434-6044 |
ISBN |
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Medium |
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Area |
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Expedition |
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Conference |
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Notes |
WOS:000523450600001 |
Approved |
no |
Is ISI |
yes |
International Collaboration |
yes |
Call Number |
IFIC @ pastor @ |
Serial |
4361 |
Permanent link to this record |