Hunting up low-mass bosons from the Sun using HPGe detector

Abstract

In this experiment we aim to look for keV-mass bosons emitted from the Sun, by looking at a process analogous to the photoelectric/Compton effect inside the HPGe detector. Their coupling to both electrons and nucleons is assumed. For masses above 25 keV, the mass dependence of our limit on the scalar-electron coupling reveals a constraint which proves stronger than that obtained recently and based on the very good agreement between the measured and predicted solar neutrino flux from the 8B reaction. On the other hand, the mass dependence of our limit on the scalar-proton/electron coupling together entails a limit on a possible Yukawa addition to the gravitational inverse square low. Such a constraint on the Yukawa interactions proves much stronger than that derived from the latest AFM Casimir force measurement.