We study the production of exotic millicharged particles (MCPs) from cosmic ray-atmosphere collisions which constitutes a permanent MCP production source for all terrestrial experiments Our calculation of the MCP flux can be used to reinterpret existing limits from experiments such as MACRO and Majorana on an ambient flux of ionizing particles. Large-scale underground neutrino detectors are particularly favorable targets for the resulting MCPs. Using available data from the Super-K experiment, we set new limits on MCPs, which are the best in sensitivity reach for the mass range $0.1 \lesssim m_χ \lesssim 0.5$ GeV, and which are competitive with accelerator-based searches for masses up to 1.5 GeV. Applying these constraints to models where a sub-dominant component of dark matter (DM) is fractionally charged allows us to probe parts of the parameter space that are challenging for conventional direct-detection DM experiments, independently of any assumptions about the DM abundance. These results can be further improved with the next generation of large-scale neutrino detectors.
We consider the production of a "fast flux" of hypothetical millicharged particles (mCPs) in the interstellar medium (ISM). We consider two possible sources induced by cosmic rays: (a) $pp\rightarrow$(meson)$\rightarrow$(mCP) which adds to atmospheric production of mCPs, and (b) cosmic-ray up-scattering on a millicharged component of dark matter. We notice that the galactic magnetic fields retain mCPs for a long time, leading to an enhancement of the fast flux by many orders of magnitude. In both scenarios, we calculate the expected signal for direct dark matter detection aimed at electron rec…
The extreme properties of neutron stars provide unique opportunities to put constraints on new particles and interactions. In this paper, we point out a few interesting ideas that place constraints on light millicharged fermions, with masses below around an eV, from neutron star astrophysics. The model independent bounds are obtained leveraging the fact that light millicharged fermions may be pair produced copiously via non-perturbative processes in the extreme electromagnetic environments of a neutron star, like a Magnetar. Magnetar energetics, magnetic field evolution and spin-down rates may…
Possible extensions of the standard model of elementary particle physics suggest the existence of particles with small, unquantized electric charge. Photon initiated pair production of millicharged fermions in an external magnetic field would manifest itself as a vacuum magnetic dichroism. We show that laser polarization experiments searching for this effect yield, in the mass range below 0.1 eV, much stronger constraints on millicharged fermions than previously considered laboratory searches. Vacuum magnetic birefringence originating from virtual pair production gives a slightly better constr…
Data-Driven Predictions for Dark Photon and Millicharged Particle Production
Neuroscience Graduate Program, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University（韦仕敦大学舒利希医学院与牙科学院神经科学研究生项目）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University（约克大学物理与天文学系）
We revisit cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on the abundance of millicharged particles based on the Planck data. The stringent limit Omega_{mcp}h^2 < 0.001 (95% CL) may be set using the CMB data alone if millicharged particles participate in the acoustic oscillations of baryon-photon plasma at the recombination epoch. The latter condition is valid for a wide region of charges and masses of the particles. Adding the millicharged component to LCDM shifts prefered scalar spectral index of primordial perturbations to somewhat larger values as compared to minimal model, even approachin…
Particles with millicharge q and sub-eV mass can be produced in photon-photon collisions, distorting the energy spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background. We derive the conservative bound q < 10^-7 e (as well as model-dependent bounds two orders of magnitude stronger), incompatible with proposed interpretations of the PVLAS anomaly based on millicharged production or on millicharged-mediated axion-like couplings.
We investigate Schwinger pair production of millicharged fermions in the strong electric field of cavities used for particle accelerators. Even without a direct detection mechanism at hand, millicharged particles, if they exist, contribute to the energy loss of the cavity and thus leave an imprint on the cavity's quality factor. Already conservative estimates substantially constrain the electric charge of these hypothetical particles; the resulting bounds are competitive with the currently best laboratory bounds which arise from experiments based on polarized laser light propagating in a magne…
A New Source of Millicharged Particles: Secondary Showers in the LHC Forward Absorber
National Centre for Nuclear Research（国家核研究中心）；School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学物理与天文学院）；Astrocent, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center Polish Academy of Sciences（波兰科学院尼古拉·哥白尼天文中心Astrocent）
Millicharged Particle Production During Late-Stage Stellar Evolution
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Napoli（意大利国家核物理研究所（INFN）那不勒斯分部）；Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY（德国电子同步加速器中心 (DESY)）；SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory（SLAC国家加速器实验室）；University of Hawai’i（夏威夷大学）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学物理与天文学系）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所（INFN）帕多瓦分部）
If dark matter particles have an electric charge, as in models of millicharged dark matter, such particles should be accelerated in the same astrophysical accelerators that produce ordinary cosmic rays, and their spectra should have a predictable rigidity dependence. Depending on the charge, the resulting "dark cosmic rays" can be detected as muon-like or neutrino-like events in Super-Kamiokande, IceCube, and other detectors. We present new limits and propose several new analyses, in particular, for the Super-Kamiokande experiment, which can probe a previously unexplored portion of the millich…
Resonant production of millicharged scalars in $k^2>0$ electromagnetic wave background
Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院核物理研究所）；Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学物理系）；Branch of Lomonosov Moscow State University in Sarov（萨罗夫莫斯科国立大学分院）
Millicharged particles (mCPs) are hypothesized particles possessing an electric charge that is a fraction of the charge of the electron. We report a search for mCPs with charges $\gtrsim 10^{-4}~e$ that improves sensitivity to their abundance in matter by roughly two orders of magnitude relative to previous searches. This search is sensitive to such particles over a wide range of masses and charges for which they can form stable bound states with matter, corresponding to a gap in parameter space that is beyond the reach of previous searches from accelerators, colliders, cosmic-ray experiments,…
We calculate the production of hypothetical millicharged particles (MCPs) of sub-GeV masses by the J-PARC proton beam in the framework of T2K and future T2HK neutrino oscillation experiments. Concentrating on the region of model parameter space, where an MCP can hit the near neutrino detector twice, we adopt this background-free signature to estimate the sensitivity of T2K and T2HK experiments to MCPs. We find that a previously inaccessible in direct searches region of charges 5$\times$$10^{-4}$-$10^{-2}$ $e$ for MCP masses 0.1-0.5 GeV can be probed.
For nearly a century, studying cosmic-ray air showers has driven progress in our understanding of elementary particle physics. In this work, we revisit the production of millicharged particles in these atmospheric showers and provide new constraints for XENON1T and Super-Kamiokande and new sensitivity estimates of current and future detectors, such as JUNO. We discuss distinct search strategies, specifically studies of single-energy-deposition events, where one electron in the detector receives a relatively large energy transfer, as well as multiple-scattering events consisting of (at least) t…
A gamma-ray line observation would be a strong hint towards the detection of dark matter. The possibility that a decay of the dark matter particle is responsible for the emission of a line is investigated, for both a neutral and a millicharged dark matter. We focus here on a comparison of these two scenarios, based on an effective field theory description and relying on cosmic ray continuum constraints.
We present a possible explanation of the recently observed 511 keV $γ$-ray anomaly with a new ``millicharged'' fermion. The new fermion is light (${\cal O}({\rm MeV})$) but has never been observed by any collider experiments mainly because of its tiny electromagnetic charge $εe$. We show that constraints from its relic density in the Universe and collider experiments allow a parameter range such that the 511 keV cosmic $γ$-ray emission from the galactic bulge may be due to positron production from this millicharged fermion.
Particles in a hidden sector can potentially acquire a small electric charge through their interaction with the Standard Model and can consequently be observed as millicharged particles. We systematically compute the production of millicharged scalar, fermion and vector boson particles in collisions of polarized photons. The presented calculation is model independent and is based purely on the assumptions of electromagnetic gauge invariance and unitarity. Polarization observables are evaluated and analyzed for each spin case. We show that the photon polarization asymmetries are a useful tool f…
Relativistic millicharged particles ($χ_q$) have been proposed in various extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. We consider the scenarios where they are produced at nuclear reactor core and via interactions of cosmic-rays with the earth's atmosphere. Millicharged particles could also be candidates for dark matter, and become relativistic through acceleration by supernova explosion shock waves. The atomic ionization cross section of $χ_q$ with matter are derived with the equivalent photon approximation. Smoking-gun signatures with significant enhancement in the differential cros…
We propose a possible explanation for the recently observed anomalous 511 keV line with a new "millicharged" fermion. This new fermion is light [${\cal O}({\rm MeV})$]. Nevertheless, it has never been observed by any collider experiments by virtue of its tiny electromagnetic charge $εe$. In particular, we constrain parameters of this millicharged particle if the 511 keV cosmic $γ$-ray emission from the galactic bulge is due to positron production from this new particle.
We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum in models with millicharged particles of electric charge q\sim 10^{-6}-10^{-1} in units of electron charge. We find that a large region of the parameter space for the millicharged particles exists where their effect on the CMB spectrum is similar to the effect of baryons. Using WMAP data on the CMB anisotropy and assuming Big Bang nucleosynthesis value for the baryon abundance we find that only a small fraction of cold dark matter, Omega_{mcp}h_0^2 < 0.007 (at 95% CL), may consists of millicharged particles with the paramet…
It has been recently suggested that the vacuum magnetic dichroism observed by the PVLAS experiment could be explained by the pair production of a new light, m ~0.1 eV, millicharged, q ~ 3 10^{-6} e, fermions. In addition, it has been pointed out that millicharged particles with q > 10^{-9} e appear naturally in models based on the string theory. We show that low energy reactor neutrino experiments provide a sensitive probe of millicharged particles. Considering, as an example, recent results of the TEXONO experiment searching for neutrino magnetic moment, a new upper bound q < 10^{-5} e for th…
Freeze-in Production of Non-Abelian Millicharged Vector Dark Matter
National Center for Theoretical Sciences, National Taiwan University（台湾大学理论科学中心）；Phenikaa Institute for Advanced Study, Phenikaa University（phenikaa 大学先进研究院）；Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica（中央研究院物理研究所）
A small fraction of millicharged dark matter (DM) is considered in the literature to give an interpretation about the enhanced 21-cm absorption at the cosmic dawn. Here we focus on the case that the main component of DM is self-interacting dark matter (SIDM), motivated by the small scale problems. For self interactions of SIDM being compatible from dwarf to cluster scales, velocity-dependent self interactions mediated by a light scalar $ϕ$ is considered. To fermionic SIDM $Ψ$, the main annihilation mode $Ψ\barΨ \to ϕϕ$ is a $p -$wave process. The thermal transition of SIDM $\rightleftarrows ϕ\…
If a gamma-ray line is observed in the near future, it will be important to determine what kind of dark matter (DM) particle could be at its origin. We investigate the possibility that the gamma-ray line would be induced by a slow DM particle decay associated to the fact that the DM particle would not be absolutely neutral. A "millicharge" for the DM particle can be induced in various ways, in particular from a kinetic mixing interaction or through the Stueckelberg mechanism. We show that such a scenario could lead in specific cases to an observable gamma-ray line. This possibility can be cons…
We propose to search for millicharged particles at the BESIII detector which is operated at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider. We compute the monophoton signal events at the BESIII detector due to millicharged particle production, as well as due to standard model irreducible/reducible backgrounds. By utilizing all the data accumulated at the BESIII detector since 2011, we derive new leading upper limits on millicharge, $\varepsilon \lesssim (0.86-2.5) \times10^{-3}$, for the mass range, $0.1~\text{GeV} \lesssim m \lesssim 1~\text{GeV}$. Furthermore, projections with more data to be collec…
Millicharged Particle Constraints from Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Napoli（意大利国家核物理研究所（INFN）那不勒斯分部）；Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI)（格兰萨索科学研究所）；SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory（SLAC国家加速器实验室）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Hawai ‘ i（夏威夷大学天体物理学系）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学物理与天文系）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所（INFN）帕多瓦分部）
Probing millicharged particles with NA64$μ$ and LDMX
Institute for Nuclear Research（核物理研究所）；Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, JINR（约安尼·弗兰克联合核子研究所理论物理鲍格留博夫实验室）；Millennium Institute for Subatomic Physics at the High-Energy Frontier (SAPHIR) of ANID（智利国家研究与创新发展局高能前沿亚原子物理学千年研究所（SAPHIR））；Center for Theoretical and Experimental Particle Physics, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯·贝略大学精确科学学院理论与实验粒子物理中心）；Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Tübingen（蒂宾根大学理论物理研究所）；ETH Zürich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics（苏黎世联邦理工学院粒子物理与天体物理研究所）；CSIC - Universitat de València, Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)（西班牙高等科学研究理事会-巴伦西亚大学基本粒子物理研究所（IFIC））；Matrosov Institute for System Dynamics and Control Theory SB RAS（俄罗斯科学院西伯利亚分院马特罗索夫系统动力学与控制理论研究所）
We examine the possibility that dark matter consists of charged massive particles (CHAMPs) in view of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. The evolution of cosmological perturbations of CHAMP with other components is followed in a self-consistent manner, without assuming that CHAMP and baryons are tightly coupled. We incorporate for the first time the "kinetic re-coupling" of the Coulomb scattering, which is characteristic of heavy CHAMPs. By a direct comparison of the predicted CMB temperature/polarization auto-correlations in CHAMP models and the observed spectra in the Planck…
We investigate the hypothesis that Coulomb-type interactions between dark matter (DM) and baryons explain the anomalously low 21cm brightness-temperature minimum at redshift z ~ 17 that was recently measured by the EDGES experiment. In particular, we reassess the validity of the scenario where a small fraction of the total DM is millicharged, focusing on newly derived constraints from Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. Crucially, the CMB power spectrum is sensitive to DM-baryon scattering if the fraction of interacting DM is larger than (or comparable to) the fractional uncert…
Decays of mesons produced in cosmic ray induced air showers in Earth's atmosphere can lead to a flux of light exotic particles which can be detected in underground experiments. We evaluate the energy spectra of the light neutral mesons $π^0$, $η$, $ρ^0$, $ω$, $ϕ$ and $J/ψ$ produced in interactions of cosmic ray protons and helium nuclei with air using QCD inspired event generators. Summing up the mesons produced in the individual hadronic interactions of air showers, we obtain the resulting fluxes of undecayed mesons. As an application, we re-consider the case of millicharged particles created…
Secondary astrophysical production of $e^+$ and $\bar{p}$ cosmic rays is considered. Inclusive $π$, $K$, and $\bar{p}$ production cross sections in $pp$ collisions at large $\sqrt{s}$ are parametrised using recent experimental data at LHC energies. The astrophysical production rate ratio $Q_{e^+}/Q_{\bar{p}}$ is calculated for an input cosmic ray proton flux consistent with local measurements. At $10<E<100$$\sim$GeV the cosmic ray flux ratio $J_{e^+}/J_{\bar{p}}$ measured by AMS02 falls below the production rate ratio by about 50\%, while at high energy $E>100$$\sim$GeV the measured flux ratio…
Thermal effects on Dark Matter production during cosmic reheating
Université catholique de Louvain（天主教鲁汶大学）；Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität（慕尼黑大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Physik（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）
In this paper we present a comprehensive study of the heavy quark production in ultra high energy cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere considering that the primary cosmic ray can be either a photon, neutrino or a proton. The analysis is performed using a unified framework -- the dipole formalism --- and the saturation effects, associated to the physical process of parton recombination, are taken into account. We demonstrate that the contribution of heavy quarks for cosmic ray interactions is in general non-negligible and can be dominant depending of the process considered. Moreover, our r…
The referred-to paper on antiproton production contains two errors: an error in the value reported for one of the fit parameters and an error in units. I give the errors and the corrected values when possible.
We describe a simple model of chaotic inflation in supergravity where one can easily tune not only the basic cosmological parameters such as n_{s}, r, and f_NL, but also a possible (subdominant) cosmic string contribution to the CMB anisotropy.
We probe the role of the directional asymmetry between relativistic outflows to kilo-parsec scale jets in the propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays. Our sample contains powerful AGN hosting dense cluster environments. We attempt a thorough description of where and when ultra high energy cosmic ray production and acceleration takes place also using radio observations of the large scale stucture of the AGNs and X-ray data of the hot dense gas in which the AGNs are situated. As far as the cosmic ray primaries are concerned, the presence of relativistic protons or mildly relativistic electro…
If one simultaneously invokes the SUSY solution to the gauge hierarchy problem and the PQ solution to the strong CP problem, then one might expect mixed axion/neutralino dark matter (DM), i.e. two dark matter particles. In this case, dark matter production involves oscillation production of axions, thermal and non-thermal neutralino production and thermal and non-thermal production of axinos and saxions. The latter particles may feed additional neutralinos into the cosmic soup, or dilute all relics via additional entropy production, or feed dark radiation into the cosmos. Depending on the SUSY…
A network of cosmic strings would lead to gravitational waves which may be detected by pulsar timing or future interferometers. The details of the gravitational wave signal depend on the distribution of cosmic string loops, which are produced by intercommutations from the scaling network of long strings. We analyze the limits imposed by energy conservation, i.e., by the fact that the total amount of string flowing into loops cannot exceed the amount leaving the long strings. We show that some recent suggestions for the cosmic string loop production rate and distribution are ruled out by these …
We investigate the pair creation of magnetically charged black holes on a cosmic string in the presence of a background magnetic field. The string may either break or fray to produce a pair of accelerating black holes described by Ernst metric. By using the instanton action we obtain the rate of such production. For large values of background magnetic field the production of large black holes is probable. Comparing our results with the case of black hole pair creation in magnetic field with no string, we show that fraying/breaking of the cosmic string can substantially enhance the production r…
We discuss the relation between remnant fragmentation in inelastic high-energy hadronic interactions and muon production in extensive cosmic ray air showers. Using a newly developed tool, a simple and flexible hadronic event generator, we analyze the forward region of hadronic interactions. We show that measurements of the Feynman-x distribution in the beam fragmentation region at LHCf will be key to understanding muon production in air showers quantitatively.
Indications of a discrepancy between simulations and data on the number of muons in cosmic ray showers exist over a large span of energies. We focus on the excess of multi-muon bundles observed by the DELPHI detector at LEP and on the excess in the muon number in general reported by the Pierre Auger Observatory. Even though the primary CR energies relevant for these experiments differ by orders of magnitude, we can find a single mechanism which can simultaneously increase predicted muon counts for both, while not violating constraints from accelerators or from the longitudinal shower developme…
A new striking feature of hadron production in nuclear collisions is the large stopping of the participating nucleons in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This enhanced baryon stopping can be understood introducing new diquark breaking mechanisms in multistring models of hadron production. Here we show, that similar diquark breaking mechanisms occur at high energy even in hadron-hadron collisions. This effect leads to significant changes in the extrapolation of these models to Cosmic Ray energies.
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays create black holes in scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale gravity. In particular, cosmic neutrinos will produce black holes deep in the atmosphere, initiating quasi-horizontal showers far above the standard model rate. At the Auger Observatory, hundreds of black hole events may be observed, providing evidence for extra dimensions and the first opportunity for experimental study of microscopic black holes. If no black holes are found, the fundamental Planck scale must be above 2 TeV for any number of extra dimensions.
