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arXiv · 2501.18813

Dark photon constraints using the UHE gamma-ray emission from galactic sources. A Phenomenological Study

Arlette Melo·Sergio Hernández·Rubén Alfaro
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Abstract

Context: Dark photons (Dph) appear in theories beyond the Standard Model of particles (SM). Under certain conditions, it is possible to have a mixing between SM photons and Dphs that should be observed as anomalies in the spectrum of astrophysical sources. Aim: To either find evidence of, or set constraints on the existence of Dphs with masses in the range of $μ\text{eV}$ using observations of two galactic sources observed at TeV energies. Methods: Using the flux of the Crab Nebula and MGRO J1908+06 at TeV energies reported by HAWC and LHAASO observatories, and assuming a model where Dphs can mix with SM photons in the vacuum; we compute the Test Statistic (TS) to search for evidence of Dphs in the form of variations/attenuation in the observed spectrum. Results: We do not find statistically significant evidence of the existence of $μ\text{eV}$ Dphs. Then, we compute the 68\% C.L. and 95\% C.L. exclusion regions for Dphs with masses in the range from $10^{-8}$ to $10^{-5}~\text{eV}$ and mixing angles with values between 0.01 and 1.0.

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Arlette Melo, Sergio Hernández, Rubén Alfaro. 2025-01-31. Dark photon constraints using the UHE gamma-ray emission from galactic sources. A Phenomenological Study. https://doi.org/10.1103/mzvm-hzkt

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