Caputo, A., Liu, H. W., Mishra-Sharma, S., & Ruderman, J. T. (2020). Dark Photon Oscillations in Our Inhomogeneous Universe. Phys. Rev. Lett., 125(22), 221303–8pp.
Abstract: A dark photon kinetically mixing with the ordinary photon represents one of the simplest viable extensions to the standard model, and would induce oscillations with observable imprints on cosmology. Oscillations are resonantly enhanced if the dark photon mass equals the ordinary photon plasma mass, which tracks the free electron number density. Previous studies have assumed a homogeneous Universe; in this Letter, we introduce for the first time an analytic formalism for treating resonant oscillations in the presence of inhomogeneities of the photon plasma mass. We apply our formalism to determine constraints from cosmic microwave background photons oscillating into dark photons, and from heating of the primordial plasma due to dark photon dark matter converting into low-energy photons. Including the effect of inhomogeneities demonstrates that prior homogeneous constraints are not conservative, and simultaneously extends current experimental limits into a vast new parameter space.
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O'Hare, C. A. J., Caputo, A., Millar, A. J., & Vitagliano, E. (2020). Axion helioscopes as solar magnetometers. Phys. Rev. D, 102(4), 043019–19pp.
Abstract: Axion helioscopes search for solar axions and axionlike particles via inverse Primakoff conversion in strong laboratory magnets pointed at the Sun. Anticipating the detection of solar axions, we determine the potential for the planned next-generation helioscope, the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), to measure or constrain the solar magnetic field. To do this we consider a previously neglected component of the solar axion flux at sub-keV energies arising from the conversion of longitudinal plasmons. This flux is sensitively dependent to the magnetic field profile of the Sun, with lower energies corresponding to axions converting into photons at larger solar radii. If the detector technology eventually installed in IAXO has an energy resolution better than 200 eV, then solar axions could become an even more powerful messenger than neutrinos of the magnetic field in the core of the Sun. For energy resolutions better than 10 eV, IAXO could access the inner 70% of the Sun and begin to constrain the field at the tachocline: the boundary between the radiative and convective zones. The longitudinal plasmon flux from a toroidal magnetic field also has an additional 2% geometric modulation effect which could be used to measure the angular dependence of the magnetic field.
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Caputo, A., Liu, H. W., Mishra-Sharma, S., & Ruderman, J. T. (2020). Modeling dark photon oscillations in our inhomogeneous Universe. Phys. Rev. D, 102(10), 103533–26pp.
Abstract: A dark photon may kinetically mix with the Standard Model photon, leading to observable cosmological signatures. The mixing is resonantly enhanced when the dark photon mass matches the primordial plasma frequency, which depends sensitively on the underlying spatial distribution of electrons. Crucially, inhomogeneities in this distribution can have a significant impact on the nature of resonant conversions. We develop and describe, for the first time, a general analytic formalism to treat resonant oscillations in the presence of inhomogeneities. Our formalism follows from the theory of level crossings of random fields and only requires knowledge of the one-point probability density function (PDF) of the underlying electron number density fluctuations. We validate our formalism using simulations and illustrate the photon-to-dark photon conversion probability for several different choices of PDFs that are used to characterize the low-redshift Universe.
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Caputo, A., Millar, A. J., & Vitagliano, E. (2020). Revisiting longitudinal plasmon-axion conversion in external magnetic fields. Phys. Rev. D, 101(12), 123004–13pp.
Abstract: In the presence of an external magnetic field, the axion and the photon mix. In particular, the dispersion relation of a longitudinal plasmon always crosses the dispersion relation of the axion (for small axion masses), thus leading to a resonant conversion. Using thermal field theory, we concisely derive the axion emission rate, applying it to astrophysical and laboratory scenarios. For the Sun, depending on the magnetic field profile, plasmon-axion conversion can dominate over Primakoff production at low energies (less than or similar to 200 eV). This both provides a new axion source for future helioscopes and, in the event of discovery, would probe the magnetic field structure of the Sun. In the case of white dwarfs (WDs), plasmon-axion conversion provides a pure photon coupling probe of the axion, which may contribute significantly for low-mass WDs. Finally, we rederive and confirm the axion absorption rate of the recently proposed plasma haloscopes.
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Caputo, A., Sberna, L., Frias, M., Blas, D., Pani, P., Shao, L. J., et al. (2019). Constraints on millicharged dark matter and axionlike particles from timing of radio waves. Phys. Rev. D, 100(6), 063515–7pp.
Abstract: We derive constraints on millicharged dark matter and axionlike particles using pulsar timing and fast radio burst observations. For dark matter particles of charge epsilon e, the constraint from time of arrival (TOA) of waves is epsilon/m(milli) less than or similar to 10(-8) eV(-1), for masses m(milli) greater than or similar to 10(-6) eV. For axionlike particles, the polarization of the signals from pulsars yields a bound in the axial coupling g/ m(a) less than or similar to 10(-13) Gev(-1)/(10(-22) eV),for m(a) less than or similar to 10(-19) eV. Both bounds scale as (rho/rho(dm))(1/2 )for fractions of the total dark matter energy density rho(dm). We make a precise study of these bounds using TOA from several pulsars, FRB 121102, and polarization measurements of PSR J0437 – 4715. Our results rule out a new region of the parameter space for these dark matter models.
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