New bounds from positronium decays on massless mirror dark photons

Abstract

We present the results of a search for a hidden mirror sector in positronium decays with a sensitivity comparable with the bounds set by the prediction of the primordial He${}^4$ abundance from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. No excess of events compatible with decays into the dark sector is observed resulting in an upper limit for the branching ratio of this process of $4.0\times 10^{-5}$ ($90\%$ C.L.). This is an order of magnitude more stringent than the current existing laboratory bounds and it constraints the mixing strength of ordinary photons to dark mirror photons at a level of $\epsilon <5.8\times 10^{-8}$.

arXiv comment5 pages, 5 figures, v2 added some refs, v3, Figs 1,2,4 and 5 updated and text improved, some refs added

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• On the Neutron Transition Magnetic Moment
• CMB $V$ modes from photon-photon forward scattering revisited
• Constraints on Neutron-Mirror-Neutron Oscillation from Neutron Star Cooling
• Dark photon portal into mirror world
• The HIBEAM Instrument at the European Spallation Source
• Positronium Decays with Dark $Z$ and Fermionic Dark Matter
• Measurement of the ${\text{1}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}\to {\text{2}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}$ interval in positronium using field-ionization of Rydberg states
• Simulating MADMAX in 3D: Requirements for Dielectric Axion Haloscopes
• Search for mirror hidden sector with neutral kaons at NA64