A New Theory of the Dark Photon and Its Preliminary Experimental Verification

Abstract

The dark photon defined in this paper is fundamentally different from the dark photon in the traditional kinetic mixing framework. According to the principle of energy conservation, a complete moving photon is defined in this work as a binary composite entity consisting of a dark photon and a light-wave component. The dark photon embodies the particle nature of light, while the light-wave embodies the wave nature of light. When the light source is turned off or the light-wave component is absorbed by matter, the complete photon loses its light-wave component and transforms into a pure dark photon state. In conventional high-energy physics, dark photons from kinetic mixing scenarios exhibit no direct electromagnetic coupling and cannot be detected through experiments. In distinct contrast, the dark photon proposed in this work possesses intrinsic particle properties of light, enables direct electromagnetic interaction, and can induce the photoelectric effect upon incidence on a metal surface. Based on this self-consistent definition, a systematic theory of dark photons is established, which provides reasonable physical interpretations for several currently controversial optical phenomena. The experimental scheme in this paper is designed strictly based on the above theoretical premise. Preliminary tabletop experimental results verify the rationality and feasibility of the proposed dark photon theory.

arXiv commentUpdated the introduction with recent progress, refined and supplemented the theoretical framework and experimental content