PIRSA:21040016

Dark photons and the cosmic radiation background

Liu, H. (2021). Dark photons and the cosmic radiation background. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/21040016

Liu, Hongwan. Dark photons and the cosmic radiation background. Perimeter Institute, Apr. 13, 2021, https://pirsa.org/21040016 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:21040016,
            doi = {10.48660/21040016},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/21040016},
            author = {Liu, Hongwan},
            keywords = {Particle Physics},
            language = {en},
            title = {Dark photons and the cosmic radiation background},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2021},
            month = {apr},
            note = {PIRSA:21040016 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Hongwan Liu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Center for Theoretical Physics

Talk number
PIRSA:21040016
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

The dark photon is a well-motivated extension of the Standard Model which can mix with the regular photon. This mixing is enhanced whenever the dark photon mass matches the primordial plasma frequency, leading to resonant conversions between photons and dark photons. These conversions can produce observable cosmological signatures, including distortions to the cosmic radiation background. In this talk, I will discuss a new analytic formalism for these conversions that can account for the inhomogeneous distribution of matter in our universe, leading to new and revised limits on the mixing parameter of light dark photons derived from the COBE/FIRAS measurement of the cosmic microwave background spectrum. I will then describe some ongoing work on a dark sector model that can explain the longstanding ARCADE radio background excess through resonant conversions of dark photons.