The Cosmological Evolution of Light Dark Photon Dark Matter

Abstract

Light dark photons are subject to various plasma effects, such as Debye screening and resonant oscillations, which can lead to a more complex cosmological evolution than is experienced by conventional cold dark matter candidates. Maintaining a consistent history of dark photon dark matter requires ensuring that the super-thermal abundance present in the early Universe $\text{(i)}$ does not deviate significantly after the formation of the CMB, and $\text{(ii)}$ does not excessively leak into the Standard Model plasma after BBN. We point out that the role of non-resonant absorption, which has previously been neglected in cosmological studies of this dark matter candidate, produces strong constraints on dark photon dark matter with mass as low as $10^{-22}$ eV. Furthermore, we show that resonant conversion of dark photons after recombination can produce excessive heating of the IGM which is capable of prematurely reionizing hydrogen and helium, leaving a distinct imprint on both the Ly$-\alpha$ forest and the integrated optical depth of the CMB. Our constraints surpass existing cosmological bounds by more than five orders of magnitude across a wide range of dark photon masses.

arXiv commentv2: Published version. Added 3 plots and appendix to justify lack of back reaction and the importance of cooling mechanism. Corrected small bug. v1: 11 pages, 5 figures. Ancillary file containing strongest constraint at each dark photon mass included to ease reproduction of bounds

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