Revisiting the Dark Photon Explanation of the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment

Abstract

A massive $U(1{)}^{\prime }$ gauge boson known as a "dark photon" or $A^{\prime }$, has long been proposed as a potential explanation for the discrepancy observed between the experimental measurement and theoretical determination of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, ($g_{\mu }-2$) anomaly. Recently, experimental results have excluded this possibility for a dark photon exhibiting exclusively visible or invisible decays. In this work, we revisit this idea and consider a model where $A^{\prime }$ couples inelastically to dark matter and an excited dark sector state, leading to a more exotic decay topology we refer to as a semi-visible decay. We show that for large mass splittings between the dark sector states this decay mode is enhanced, weakening the previous invisibly decaying dark photon bounds. As a consequence, $A^{\prime }$ resolves the $g_{\mu }-2$ anomaly in a region of parameter space the thermal dark matter component of the Universe is readily explained. Interestingly, it is possible that the semi-visible events we discuss may have been vetoed by experiments searching for invisible dark photon decays. A re-analysis of the data and future searches may be crucial in uncovering this exotic decay mode or closing the window on the dark photon explanation of the $g_{\mu }-2$ anomaly.

5 pages + references, 3 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Measurement of the fine-structure constant as a test of the Standard Model
• Secluded U(1) below the weak scale
• Search for a dark photon in e+e- collisions at BABAR
• Illuminating Dark Photons with High-Energy Colliders
• U-boson production in e+e- annihilations, psi and Upsilon decays, and Light Dark Matter
• Search for light massive gauge bosons as an explanation of the $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$ anomaly at MAMI
• Search for invisible decays of sub-GeV dark photons in missing-energy events at the CERN SPS
• Light dark matter in neutrino beams: production modelling and scattering signatures at MiniBooNE, T2K and SHiP
• Testing GeV-Scale Dark Matter with Fixed-Target Missing Momentum Experiments

Cited by in corpus (45)

• New physics explanations of $a_{\mu }$ in light of the FNAL muon $g-2$ measurement
• The Present and Future Status of Heavy Neutral Leptons
• A Guaranteed Discovery at Future Muon Colliders
• Precision tests of fundamental physics with $\eta$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }$ mesons
• Invisible and displaced dark matter signatures at Belle II
• A Dark Seesaw Solution to Low Energy Anomalies: MiniBooNE, the muon $(g-2)$, and BaBar
• A No-Lose Theorem for Discovering the New Physics of $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$ at Muon Colliders
• Singlet extensions and W boson mass in the light of the CDF II result
• Electromagnetic Signatures of Dark Photon Superradiance
• Long-lived Dark Higgs and Inelastic Dark Matter at Belle II
• Systematically Testing Singlet Models for $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$
• New production channels for light dark matter in hadronic showers
• Forbidden Dark Matter Annihilations into Standard Model Particles
• Search for dark sector physics with NA64
• Exploring properties of long-lived particles in inelastic dark matter models at Belle II
• Constraining Light Thermal Inelastic Dark Matter with NA64
• On $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$ From Gauged $\mathrm{U}(1{)}_X$
• Muon g-2 and a type-X two Higgs doublet scenario: some studies in high-scale validity
• Phenomenology of CP-even ALP
• Constraints on cosmic-ray boosted dark matter with realistic cross section
• Heavy long-lived coannihilation partner from inelastic Dark Matter model and its signatures at the LHC
• New Thermal Relic Targets for Inelastic Vector-Portal Dark Matter
• The muon g-2 anomaly confronts new physics in $e^{\pm }$ and ${\mu }^{\pm }$ final states scattering
• Requirements on common solutions to the LSND and MiniBooNE excesses: a post-MicroBooNE study
• Data-driven study of the implications of anomalous magnetic moments and lepton flavor violating processes of $e$, $\mu$ and $\tau$
• Probing the Dark Axion Portal with Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment
• Neutrino Non-standard Interactions with arbitrary couplings to u and d quarks
• The Muon Magnetic Moment and Physics Beyond the Standard Model
• Unlocking the Inelastic Dark Matter Window with Vector Mediators
• Connecting $(g-2{)}_{\mu }$ to neutrino mass in the extended neutrinophilic 2HDM
• Probing an intrinsically flavorful ALP via tau-lepton flavor physics
• Sensitivity improvement in hidden photon detection using resonant cavities
• IceCube and the origin of ANITA-IV events
• Semi-visible dark photon in a model with vector-like leptons for the $(g-2{)}_{e,\mu }$ and $W$-boson mass anomalies
• Multicomponent scalar dark matter at high-intensity proton beam experiments
• From oversimplified to overlooked: the case for exploring Rich Dark Sectors
• Inelastic Dark Matter at the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino Program
• Multi-track Displaced Vertices at B-Factories
• New Physics Searches at Kaon and Hyperon Factories
• The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC
• Semi-Visible Dark Photon Phenomenology at the GeV Scale
• Search for Dark Photons in Rare $Z$ Boson Decays with the ATLAS Detector
• Probing the explanation of the muon (g-2) anomaly and thermal light dark matter with the semi-visible dark photon channel
• Inelastic Dirac Dark Matter
• Probing inelastic sub-GeV dark matter at the DUNE near detector