Constraints on millicharged particles from nuclear gamma-decays

Abstract

We consider nuclear gamma decays and $\gamma$-emitting reactions that can be an efficient source of hypothetical millicharged particles ($\chi$). In particular, we revisit the production of millicharged particles in nuclear reactor environment, pointing out that $\gamma$ cascades from ${}^{239}$U is an overlooked yet a powerful source of $\chi \bar{\chi }$ pairs. This leads to an increased flux compared to previous studies. We then apply new estimates of the flux to derive novel limits on the value of millicharge, $\epsilon =Q_{\chi }/e$, from the electron recoil searched for in a variety of experiments placed in proximity to the reactor cores. The derived limits on $\epsilon$ are the strongest in the interval of masses $\sim 0.7-2$ MeV. We also derive the MCP flux from the Sun and point out potential sensitivity of the low-threshold dark matter search experiments.

19 pages, published version

References in corpus (46)

• Neutrino Physics with JUNO
• An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum
• Physics Beyond Colliders at CERN: Beyond the Standard Model Working Group Report
• Supernova 1987A Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Sectors, Millicharged Particles, the QCD Axion, and an Axion-like Particle
• Updated Bounds on Milli-Charged Particles
• Bosonic super-WIMPs as keV-scale dark matter
• New Limits on Hidden Photons from Past Electron Beam Dumps
• Search for New Physics in Electronic Recoil Data from XENONnT
• Measurement of Neutrino-Electron Scattering Cross-Section with a CsI(Tl) Scintillating Crystal Array at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Reactor
• Dark Matter, Millicharges, Axion and Scalar Particles, Gauge Bosons, and Other New Physics with LDMX
• Dark Radiation constraints on minicharged particles in models with a hidden photon
• Signs of Dark Matter at 21-cm?
• Revisiting Supernova 1987A Constraints on Dark Photons
• Tighter Limits on Dark Matter Explanations of the Anomalous EDGES 21cm Signal
• Simultaneous Precision Spectroscopy of $pp$, ${}^7$Be, and $pep$ Solar Neutrinos with Borexino Phase-II
• Reviving Millicharged Dark Matter for 21-cm Cosmology
• Final results on the neutrino magnetic moment from the MUNU experiment
• The Search for Feebly-Interacting Particles
• Constraints on millicharged particles from Planck
• Millicharged particles in neutrino experiments
• Spectroscopy of geo-neutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data
• Improved Limits on Millicharged Particles Using the ArgoNeuT Experiment at Fermilab
• Implication of the proton-deuteron radiative capture for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• New Constraints on Millicharged Particles from Cosmic-ray Production
• Measurement of the 8B Solar Neutrino Flux with the KamLAND Liquid Scintillator Detector
• Dark photon production through positron annihilation in beam-dump experiments
• Proton Fixed-Target Scintillation Experiment to Search for Minicharged Particles
• New Directions for Axion Searches via Scattering at Reactor Neutrino Experiments
• Axion-like Particles at Future Neutrino Experiments: Closing the "Cosmological Triangle"
• Search of Axions from a Nuclear Power Reactor with a High-Purity Germanium Detector
• A search for new physics in low-energy electron recoils from the first LZ exposure
• CHAMP Cosmic Rays
• Dark Photon Decay Beyond The Euler-Heisenberg Limit
• Millicharged Particles in Liquid Argon Neutrino Experiments
• Constraints on millicharged particles with low threshold germanium detectors at Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory
• Earth-bound Milli-charge Relics
• Light Scalars and Dark Photons in Borexino and LSND Experiments
• Millicharged Cosmic Rays and Low Recoil Detectors
• FLArE up dark sectors with EM form factors at the LHC Forward Physics Facility
• Production of Electron Neutrinos at Nuclear Power Reactors and the Prospects for Neutrino Physics
• Constraints on hidden photons produced in nuclear reactors
• Exploring New Physics with PandaX-4T Low Energy Electronic Recoil Data
• Axion-Like Particle Production at Beam Dump Experiments with Distinct Nuclear Excitation Lines
• QED corrections to the big-bang nucleosynthesis reaction rates
• Terrestrial detection of hidden vectors produced by solar nuclear reactions
• New Constraints on Axion-Like Particles with the NEON Detector at a Nuclear Reactor