Using dark photons to search for dark matter

[twilyth]

WTF is a dark photon? So glad you asked. This is from a blog post several years ago proposing the idea.

Just to translate that a bit, here is the idea. We’re imagining there is a completely new kind of photon, which couples to dark matter but not to ordinary matter. So there can be dark electric fields, dark magnetic fields, dark radiation, etc.

It also involves a new gauge field that would mediate this new type of electromagnetism. What's interesting about it though is that unlike normal EM which is a relatively short range force, this would operate over longer distances - if I've read things correctly.

The reason for looking for a new explanation for dark matter is that the search for WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) is a couple of decades old and none seem to have turned up yet. If dark photons are real, that might give a solid clue as to the nature of dark matter.

Most dark-matter experiments try to detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are predicted by the theory of supersymmetry and interact with other matter only via the weak nuclear force and gravity. WIMP detectors aim to capture the tiny amounts of energy given off in collisions between the putative particles and atomic nuclei – usually in large detectors deep underground. However, about a quarter of a century has passed since the first such experiment started and not a single WIMP has been unambiguously detected.

Hidden photons are predicted in some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, and unlike WIMPs they would interact electromagnetically with normal matter. Hidden photons also have a very small mass, and are expected to oscillate into normal photons in a process similar to neutrino oscillation. Observing such oscillations relies on detectors that are sensitive to extremely small electromagnetic signals, and a number of these extremely difficult experiments have been built or proposed.

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