宇宙作为超导体：如何搜寻光子质量
The universe as a superconductor: How to search for a photon mass
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中文总结 AI 辅助
本文类比超导体相变，分类约束阿贝尔希格斯机制产生的光子质量，指出宇宙磁场可恢复对称性，允许质量高达0.3 MeV，并利用磁流体动力学和快速射电暴等提出新探测途径。
中文摘要 AI 辅助
我们重新审视了当光子质量源于阿贝尔希格斯机制而非普罗卡项时对其的约束。由于希格斯粒子必然携带微小电荷且质量很轻，理论的相（迈斯纳相、涡旋相或对称性恢复相）取决于环境磁场，因此实验测得的光子质量取决于其实验环境。我们类比第一类和第二类超导体，将现有实验按其适用的相进行分类。对于第一类光子质量，星系和星系际介质中的磁场可以在各处恢复对称性，从而允许真空光子质量高达$0.3\,{\ m MeV}$。宇宙中可能存在高达$10^{-5}\,{\ m eV}$的光子质量区域，而测量频率相关的光学深度有可能揭示这些区域。对于第二类光子质量，我们表明最强的约束主要来自银河系发电机产生观测到的磁场这一要求，我们通过将磁流体动力学推广到非零光子质量来推导这一约束。由于地球磁场在剩余的大部分参数空间中恢复了对称性，在大型磁屏蔽体积内或太空中进行的实验室搜索可以探测到地球上任何实验都无法看到的光子质量。对遥远光源的测量，特别是快速射电暴，也对实验室实验无法探测的参数提供了独特的灵敏度。
英文摘要
We revisit the bounds on the photon mass when it arises from an Abelian Higgs mechanism rather than a Proca term. Because the higgs is necessarily millicharged and light, the phase of the theory (Meissner, vortex, or symmetry-restored) depends on the ambient magnetic field, so the photon mass an experiment measures depends on the environment it is performed in. We classify existing experiments by the phases in which they apply, in analogy with Type I and Type II superconductors. For Type I photon masses, magnetic fields in galaxies and the intergalactic medium can restore the symmetry everywhere, allowing a vacuum photon mass as large as $0.3 \,{\rm MeV}$. Regions of photon mass as large as $10^{-5}\, {\rm eV}$ could be present in the Universe, and measurement of frequency dependent optical depth can potentially reveal these regions. For Type II photon masses, we show that the strongest constraints mainly arise from the requirement that the galactic dynamo generates the observed magnetic fields, which we derive by generalizing magnetohydrodynamics to a nonzero photon mass. Since the terrestrial magnetic field restores the symmetry in much of the remaining parameter space, laboratory searches performed inside large magnetically shielded volumes, or in space, could probe photon masses invisible to any experiment on Earth. Measurements of distant light sources, in particular, fast radio bursts, also offer unique sensitivity to parameters invisible to lab experiments.
发表机构
- New York University（纽约大学）
- University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）
- Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（理论物理前沿研究所）
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