Photon Mass Research Articles

Transition Edge Sensors: Physics and Applications

Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) are amongst the most sensitive cryogenic detectors and can be easily optimized for the detection of massive particles or photons ranging from X-rays all the way down to millimetre radiation. Furthermore, TESs exhibit unmatched energy resolution while being easily frequency domain multiplexed in arrays of several hundred pixels. Such great performance, along with rather simple and sturdy readout and amplification chains make TESs extremely compelling for applications in many fields of scientific endeavour. While the first part of this article is an in-depth discussion on the working principles of Transition Edge Sensors, the remainder of this review article focuses on the applications of Transition Edge Sensors in advanced scientific instrumentation serving as an accessible and thorough list of possible starting points for more comprehensive literature research.

Revisiting dark photon constraints from CMB spectral distortions

Abstract Spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide stringent constraints on energy and entropy production in the post-BBN (Big Bang Nucleosynthesis) era. This has been used to constrain dark photon models with COBE/FIRAS and forecast the potential gains with future CMB spectrometers. Here, we revisit these constraints by carefully considering the photon to dark photon conversion process and evolution of the distortion signal. Previous works only included the effect of CMB energy density changes but neglected the change to the photon number density. We clearly define the dark photon distortion signal and show that in contrast to previous analytic estimates the distortion has an opposite sign and a ≃ 1.5 times larger amplitude. We furthermore extend the treatment into the large distortion regime to also cover the redshift range ≃ 2 × 106 − 4 × 107 between the μ-era and the end of BBN using CosmoTherm. This shows that the CMB distortion constraints for dark photon masses in the range 10−4 eV ≲ md ≲ 10−3 eV were significantly underestimated. We demonstrate that in the small distortion regime the distortion caused by photon to dark photon conversion is extremely close to a μ-type distortion independent of the conversion redshift. This opens the possibility to study dark photon models using CMB distortion anisotropies and the correlations with CMB temperature anisotropies as we highlight here.

Electromagnetic field in an expanding universe

An expanding universe filled with a massive electromagnetic field is studied. The electromagnetic field (photon) is found to acquire mass during an inflationary period. The photon mass varies with the Hubble parameter as m γ = 3ℏ H/c 2, where H, ℏ and c are the Hubble parameter, Planck constant, and speed of light. A leftover magnetic field since the inflationary era permeates the space between galaxies and interstellar media. The strength of the electromagnetic field changes with the scale factor, E ∝ a −3. The photon gains mass when interacting with the gravitational field while remaining massless in flat space. The massive electromagnetic field adds energy density to the Universe proportional to m 2.

Synthesis and characterization of metakaolin-based geopolymers doped with CRT waste glass for radiation shielding applications

This study presents the influence of CRT glass on the gamma-ray interaction processes in metakaolin-based geopolymers. Four batches of G-CRT composites (namely, G, G-10CRT, G-20CRT, and G-30CRT, which represent geopolymer (G) samples doped with 0, 10, 20, and 30 wt% of CRT glass) were prepared using the cold hydrostatic press method. The mass attenuation coefficients of the prepared C-xCRT samples were computed using XCOM and FLUKA simulations for photons within the energy range of 15 keV–15 MeV. The density of the pristine geopolymer increased from about 1.86 g/cm3 to 2.09, 2.26, and 2.34 g/cm3 for G-10CRT, G-20CRT, and G-30CRT, respectively. The photon mass and linear attenuation coefficients of the geopolymers increased with CRT glass concentration. The half-value layer and mean free path were within the ranges 0.070–18.079 cm and 0.101–26.083 cm for G; 0.036–15.110 cm and 0.052–21.799 cm for G-10CRT; 0.024–13.197 cm and 0.014–19.039 cm for G-20CRT; and 0.018–12.074 and 0.026–17.419 cm for G-30CRT. The G-30CRT had the best gamma attenuating prowess in contrast to other G-xCRT. CRT-rich G-xCRT had a higher effective atomic number. For 10 mm thick geopolymer, the absorbed dose rates were 0.211 μR/h, 0.66 μR/h, 1.11 μR/h, and 1.55 μR/h for G, G-10CRT, G-20CRT, and G-30CRT, respectively, for 100 keV photons. The introduction of CRT glass into the geopolymer matrix improved their photon interaction cross-section. The geopolymers showed outstanding photon interaction ability compared to ordinary concrete and some shielding glasses at low photon energies. The CRT glass-doped geopolymer samples are useful for preparing radiation shielding concrete.

Determination of Photon Mass with its Main Physical Parameters Energy, Wavelength and Velocity

The excitation, transition, vibration and rotation of nuclei, atoms and molecules leading to the emission of all photons from gamma rays to radio waves as a result of the physical mechanisms responsible for excited states. The photon energy with its corresponding frequency, wavelength and distance can be determined by the main physical parameters (mass, distance, time) of the mentioned particles (Sanad, 2024). The photon mass as a particle can be determined by its main physical parameters (energy, wavelength, velocity). The determined photon mass is 2.2X10-34 kg and it is the same value of all electromagnetic radiation from gamma rays to radio waves.

Search for Leptonic Decays of Dark Photons at NA62.

The NA62 experiment at CERN, configured in beam-dump mode, has searched for dark photon decays in flight to electron-positron pairs using a sample of 1.4×10^{17} protons on dump collected in 2021. No evidence for a dark photon signal is observed. The combined result for dark photon searches in lepton-antilepton final states is presented and a region of the parameter space is excluded at 90% confidence level, improving on previous experimental limits for dark photon mass values between 50 and 600 MeV/c^{2} and coupling values in the range 10^{-6} to 4×10^{-5}. An interpretation of the e^{+}e^{-} search result in terms of the emission and decay of an axionlike particle is also presented.

Light-light scattering in Very Special Relativity Quantum Electrodynamics and cosmic anisotropies

We consider scattering of light by light in Very Special Relativity (VSR) Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) with a non-zero photon mass. In order to preserve gauge invariance and Sim(2) symmetry we made use of a recently introduced infrared regularization of VSR theories. Additionally, we show that all one loop diagrams with any number of photon external legs and zero fermion legs reduce to the standard QED result with the effective electron mass, as required by unitarity. It follows that the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian is the same as in QED. The total cross section of scattering of light by light exhibits tiny anisotropies that could be detected at cosmological scales. In particular, they should be looked at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Radiation for low photon frequencies.

Aharonov-Bohm effect mediated by massive photons

Virtual photons play an essential role in the locally realistic description of the Aharonov-Bohm interference. We show that the effect of virtual photons in the interferometer is manifested by a change in their spectrum. In particular, when a vacuum is confined between two ideal conducting plates, the photons obey the two-dimensional Proca equation, the wave equation with finite effective mass. This results in a short-range interaction between a test charge and a magnetic flux, and hence the Aharonov-Bohm effect is reduced exponentially at a large distance between the two bodies. On the other hand, a semiclassical description is also possible, and this raises the interesting question of how to prove the physical reality of virtual photons.

Deepest sensitivity to wavelike dark photon dark matter with superconducting radio frequency cavities

Wavelike, bosonic dark matter candidates like axions and dark photons can be detected using microwave cavities known as haloscopes. Traditionally, haloscopes consist of tunable copper cavities operating in the TM010 mode, but ohmic losses have limited their performance. In contrast, superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities can achieve quality factors of ∼1010, perhaps 5 orders of magnitude better than copper cavities, leading to more sensitive dark matter detectors. In this paper, we first derive that the scan rate of a haloscope experiment is proportional to the loaded quality factor QL, even if the cavity bandwidth is much narrower than the dark matter halo line shape. We then present a proof-of-concept search for dark photon dark matter using a nontunable ultrahigh-quality SRF cavity. We exclude dark photon dark matter with kinetic mixing strengths of χ>1.5×10−16 for a dark photon mass of mA′=5.35 μeV, achieving the deepest exclusion to wavelike dark photons by almost an order of magnitude. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Effective photon mass in the presence of a gravity gradient emulated by an electromagnetic medium

Geometry- and gravity-induced effective photon mass is known to arise in many cases, such as various optical waveguides, Kaluza–Klein theories, and many other optical and general relativity situations. Here we study the appearance of effective photon mass in the Newtonian limit due to the presence of a gravity gradient emulated by an electromagnetic medium. The effective photon mass squared appears to be proportional to the local gravity gradient, and it becomes negative in an optical anti-waveguide around the unstable equilibrium location. A similar effect is observed in the emulated Kottler–Møller spacetime where the absolute value of the gravity-induced effective photon mass appears to coincide with the Unruh temperature. We demonstrate that similar to the Unruh effect, a bath of thermal radiation should be observed in an optical anti-waveguide near the unstable equilibrium, whose temperature is defined by the emulated local gravity gradient, and which remains unchanged in the c→∞ limit.

Analysis of high-frequency limit in absorption cross-section for Kerr–Newman–de Sitter black hole

In this paper, we study the critical impact parameter and Lyapunov exponent for a massive charged particle and a photon in the Kerr–Newman–de Sitter (KNdS) spacetime. From the geodesic equations obtained for the particle traveling parallel to the rotation axis (on-axis) of the KNdS spacetime and using the complex angular momentum (CAM) technique, it is found that the total absorption cross-section at a high-frequency limit oscillates with decreasing amplitude. We show that the black hole charge and spin affect the total absorption cross-section in the case of both the massive charged particle and photon.

Search for light long-lived neutral particles from Higgs boson decays via vector-boson-fusion production from pp collisions at s=13\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sqrt{s}=13$$\\end{document} TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is reported for long-lived dark photons with masses between 0.1 GeV and 15 GeV, from exotic decays of Higgs bosons produced via vector-boson-fusion. Events that contain displaced collimated Standard Model fermions reconstructed in the calorimeter or muon spectrometer are probed. This search uses the full LHC Run 2 (2015–2018) data sample collected in proton–proton collisions at s=13\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sqrt{s}=13$$\\end{document} TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb-1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$fb^{-1}$$\\end{document}. Dominant backgrounds from Standard Model processes and non-collision sources are estimated using data-driven techniques. The observed event yields in the signal regions are consistent with the expected background. Upper limits on the Higgs boson to dark photon branching fraction are reported as a function of the dark photon mean proper decay length or of the dark photon mass and the coupling between the Standard Model and the potential dark sector. This search is combined with previous ATLAS searches obtained in the gluon–gluon fusion and WH production modes. A branching fraction above 10% is excluded at 95% CL for a 125 GeV Higgs boson decaying into two dark photons for dark photon mean proper decay lengths between 173 and 1296 mm and mass of 10 GeV.

Dispersive interaction between two atoms in Proca quantum electrodynamics

We analyze the influence of a massive photon in the dispersive interaction between two atoms in their fundamental states. We work in the context of Proca quantum electrodynamics. The photon mass not only introduces a new length scale but also gives rise to a longitudinal polarization for the electromagnetic field. We obtain explicitly the interaction energy between the atoms for any distance regime and consider several particular cases. We show that, for a given interatomic distance, the greater the photon mass the better it is the nonretarded approximation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

First Scan Search for Dark Photon Dark Matter with a Tunable Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavity.

Dark photons have emerged as promising candidates for dark matter, and their search is a top priority in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. We report the first use of a tunable niobium superconducting radio-frequency cavity for a scan search of dark photon dark matter with innovative data analysis techniques. We mechanically adjusted the resonant frequency of a cavity submerged in liquid helium at a temperature of 2K, and scanned the dark photon mass over a frequency range of 1.37MHz centered at 1.3GHz. Our study leveraged the superconducting radio-frequency cavity's remarkably high quality factors of approximately 10^{10}, resulting in the most stringent constraints to date on a substantial portion of the exclusion parameter space on the kinetic mixing coefficient ε between dark photons and electromagnetic photons, yielding a value of ε<2.2×10^{-16}.

Aharonov-Bohm effect in Generalized Electrodynamics

The Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect is considered in the context of Generalized Electrodynamics (GE) by Podolsky and Bopp. GE is the only extension to Maxwell electrodynamics that is locally U(1)-gauge invariant, admits linear field equations and contains higher-order derivatives of the vector potential. GE admits both massless and massive modes for the photon. We recover the ordinary quantum phase shift of the AB effect, derived in the context of Maxwell electrodynamics, for the massless mode of the photon in GE. The massive mode induces a correction factor to the AB phase shift depending on the photon mass. We study both the magnetic AB effect and its electric counterpart. In principle, accurate experimental observations of AB the phase shift could be used to constrain GE photon mass.

Electromagnetic fields and radiation from localized current source interacting with a cosmic axion field in the context of massive axion electrodynamics

Electromagnetic fields from localized current source interacting with an oscillatory cosmic axion field are studied, accounting for the possibility of a finite photon mass. In particular, focus will be on the dipole radiation from static current sources. The Proca theory is generalized to include the axion field and solutions to the modified EM field equations are obtained to first order in the axion coupling parameter. Analysis of the interplay between the two vanishingly small parameters – the axion mass (via the coupling constant and the oscillating frequency) and the photon mass – is carried out with reference to possible future detection of the cosmic axion and/or the photon mass via electromagnetic interaction with the axion.

Testing the Ampère–Maxwell law on the photon mass and Lorentz symmetry violation with MMS multi-spacecraft data

Testing the Ampère–Maxwell law on the photon mass and Lorentz symmetry violation with MMS multi-spacecraft data

A complete set of 4-point amplitudes in the constructive Standard Model

We present a complete set of 4-point amplitudes in the constructive Standard Model at tree level. Any 4-point amplitude can be obtained from the results presented here by a suitable choice of masses, a permutation of the particles (by crossing symmetry), and a reversal of the momenta of the outgoing particles. We have validated all of these amplitudes by comparing with Feynman diagrams for a variety of masses, scattering energy and angles, and helicities of the photons and gluons, when they are in the initial states. The standard constructive techniques work for these amplitudes without the need for any contact terms and indeed, contact terms are not allowed. Only three 4-point vertices are used (allowed), involving the Higgs boson and the W and Z bosons. When external photons or gluons are present, the amplitude simplifies to a single spinor-product structure, present in the numerator. In a few cases, however, the propagator structure is more complex, with different terms depending on the charge or color structure. In the case of internal photons or gluons, we find that the massless limit of a massive photon or gluon diagram gives the correct result in all cases. We have additionally found that using the x factor directly gives the correct result in all cases and agrees with the massless limit calculation.

Constraints on photon mass and dark photon from the Jovian magnetic field

The Jovian magnetic field, being the strongest and largest planetary one in the solar system, could offer us new insights into possible microscopic scale new physics, such as a non-zero mass of the Standard Model (SM) photon or a light dark photon kinetically mixing with the SM photon. We employ the immense data set from the latest Juno mission, which provides us unprecedented information about the magnetic field of the gas giant, together with a more rigorous statistical approach compared to the literature, to set strong constraints on the dark photon mass and kinetic mixing parameter, as well as the SM photon mass. The constraint on the dark photon parameters is independent of whether dark photon is (part of) dark matter or not, and serves as the most stringent one in a certain regime of the parameter space.

Proca Electrodynamics Approach to The Massive Photon

Proca Electrodynamics Approach to The Massive Photon