No Arabic abstract
Milli-magnetically charged particles generically appear in scenarios with kinetic mixing. We present model independent bounds on these particles coming from magnetars. Schwinger pair production discharges the magnetic field of the magnetar. Thus the existence of large magnetic fields at magnetars place strong bounds on the milli-magnetic charge to be smaller than $10^{-18}$ over a large mass range.
Quiescent hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission from neutron stars constitute a promising frontier to explore axion-like-particles (ALPs). ALP production in the core peaks at energies of a few keV to a few hundreds of keV; subsequently, the ALPs escape and convert to photons in the magnetosphere. The emissivity goes as $sim T^6$ while the conversion probability is enhanced for large magnetic fields, making magnetars, with their high core temperatures and strong magnetic fields, ideal targets for probing ALPs. We compute the energy spectrum of photons resulting from conversion of ALPs in the magnetosphere and then compare it against hard X-ray data from NuSTAR, INTEGRAL, and XMM-Newton, for a set of eight magnetars for which such data exists. Upper limits are placed on the product of the ALP-nucleon and ALP-photon couplings. For the production in the core, we perform a calculation of the ALP emissivity in degenerate nuclear matter modeled by a relativistic mean field theory. The reduction of the emissivity due to improvements to the one-pion exchange approximation is incorporated, as is the suppression of the emissivity due to proton superfluidity in the neutron star core. A range of core temperatures is considered, corresponding to different models of the steady heat transfer from the core to the stellar surface. For the subsequent conversion, we solve the coupled differential equations mixing ALPs and photons in the magnetosphere. The conversion occurs due to a competition between the dipolar magnetic field and the photon refractive index induced by the external magnetic field. Semi-analytic expressions are provided alongside the full numerical results. We also present an analysis of the uncertainty on the axion limits we derive due to the uncertainties in the magnetar masses, nuclear matter equation of state, and the proton superfluid critical temperature.
We propose a new experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that offers a powerful and model-independent probe for milli-charged particles. This experiment could be sensitive to charges in the range $10^{-3}e - 10^{-1}e$ for masses in the range $0.1 - 100$ GeV, which is the least constrained part of the parameter space for milli-charged particles. This is a new window of opportunity for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC.
We show that, by studying the arrival times of radio pulses from highly-magnetized transient beamed sources, it may be possible to detect light pseudo-scalar particles, such as axions and axion-like particles, whose existence could have considerable implications for the strong-CP problem of QCD as well as the dark matter problem in cosmology. Specifically, such light bosons may be detected with a much greater sensitivity, over a broad particle mass range, than is currently achievable by terrestrial experiments, and using indirect astrophysical considerations. The observable effect was discussed in Chelouche & Guendelman (2009), and is akin to the Stern-Gerlach experiment: the splitting of a photon beam naturally arises when finite coupling exists between the electro-magnetic field and the axion field. The splitting angle of the light beams linearly depends on the photon wavelength, the size of the magnetized region, and the magnetic field gradient in the transverse direction to the propagation direction of the photons. If radio emission in radio-loud magnetars is beamed and originates in regions with strong magnetic field gradients, then splitting of individual pulses may be detectable. We quantify the effect for a simplified model for magnetars, and search for radio beam splitting in the 2,GHz radio light curves of the radio loud magnetar XTE,J1810-197.
The nonbaryonic dark matter of the Universe is assumed to consist of new stable particles. Stable particle candidates for cosmological dark matter are usually considered as neutral and weakly interacting. However stable charged leptons and quarks can also exist hidden in elusive dark atoms and can play a role of dark matter. Such possibility is strongly restricted by the constraints on anomalous isotopes of light elements that form positively charged heavy species with ordinary electrons. This problem might be avoided, if stable particles with charge -2 exist and there are no stable particles with charges +1 and -1. These conditions cannot be realized in supersymmetric models, but can be satisfied in several alternative scenarios, which are discussed in this paper. The excessive -2 charged particles are bound with primordial helium in O-helium atoms, maintaining specific nuclear-interacting form of the dark matter. O-helium dark matter can provide solution for the puzzles of dark matter searches. The successful development of composite dark matter scenarios appeals to experimental search for doubly charged constituents of dark atoms. Estimates of production cross section of such particles at LHC are presented and discussed. Signatures of double charged particles in the ATLAS experiment are outlined.
Recently, a search for milli-charged particles produced at the LHC has been proposed. The experiment, named milliQan, is expected to obtain sensitivity to charges of $10^{- 1} - 10^{-3}e$ for masses in the 0.1 - 100 GeV range. The detector is composed of 3 stacks of 80 cm long plastic scintillator arrays read out by PMTs. It will be installed in an existing tunnel 33 m from the CMS interaction point at the LHC, with 17 m of rock shielding to suppress beam backgrounds. In the fall of 2017 a 1% scale demonstrator of the proposed detector was installed at the planned site in order to study the feasibility of the experiment, focusing on understanding various background sources such as radioactivity of materials, PMT dark current, cosmic rays, and beam induced backgrounds. The data from the demonstrator provides a unique opportunity to understand the backgrounds and to optimize the design of the full detector.