Bounds on massive graviton-like particles from searches for axion-like particles coupling to photons

Abstract

Limits on spin-0 axion-like-particles (ALPs) coupling to photons are reinterpreted as constraints on massive spin-2 graviton-like-particles (GLPs) with universal coupling $α_\text{G}/M_\text{P}$ (where $M_\text{P}$ is the reduced Planck mass) to the Standard Model fields. A minimally model-dependent recasting is performed, exploiting the formally analogous production and detection mechanisms for both particle types, based on the Primakoff and Gertsenshtein effects, i.e., photon-axion/graviton conversion. Constraints originally derived in the ALP mass vs. photon-coupling plane ($m_\text{a}, g_{\text{a}γ}$) are translated into the corresponding bounds in the GLP ($m_\text{G}, α_\text{G}/M_\text{P}$) parameter space over the full mass range, $m_\text{a,G} \approx 10^{-20}$--$10^{14}$eV probed in current and future experimental setups including cavity-based detectors (haloscopes and resonant upconversion devices), helioscopes, magnetometers, optical interferometers, beam dumps, fixed-target, and collider experiments, as well as astrophysical and cosmological constraints. Generic scenarios are considered in which GLPs are a dark matter candidate and not. Whereas current ALP searches do not set stronger bounds on massive spin-2 particles than fifth-force tests, future magnetometers, two-beam interferometers, and upconversion experiments have the potential to provide very strong sensitivity, down to $α_\text{G}/M_\text{P} \approx 10^{-32} \text{GeV}^{-1}$, for light graviton-like particles with $m_\text{G}\lesssim 10^{-8}$eV. These future detectors exhibit comparatively greater sensitivity to massive gravitons than to axions. For massive gravitons at the TeV scale, exclusive diphoton decay searches, employed in ALP studies, offer a complementary approach to standard searches for spin-2 resonances in other inclusive final states.