Dark Photon Limits from Patchy Dark Screening of the Cosmic Microwave Background

Journal Article · Thu Oct 03 00:00:00 UTC 2024 · Physical Review Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.141003 · OSTI ID:2455029

McCarthy, Fiona ; Pîrvu, Dalila ; Hill, J. Colin ; Huang, Junwu ; Johnson, Matthew C. ; Rogers, Keir K.

Dark photons that kinetically mix with the Standard Model photon give rise to new spectral anisotropies (patchy dark screening) in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) due to conversion of photons to dark photons within large-scale structure. We utilize predictions for this patchy dark screening signal to provide the tightest constraints to date on the dark photon kinetic mixing parameter [ $ϵ\lesssim 4.5\times {10}^{-8}$ (95% confidence level)] over the mass range ${10}^{-13}\text{eV}\lesssim m_{A^{\prime }}\lesssim {10}^{-11}\mathrm{eV}$ , almost an order of magnitude stronger than previous limits, by applying state-of-the-art component separation techniques to the cross-correlation of CMB and unWISE galaxy survey data. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0011941
• OSTI ID: 2455029
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 133; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English