Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes
Abstract We demonstrate that the searches for dark sector particles can provide probes of reheating scenarios, focusing on the cosmic millicharge background produced in the early universe. We discuss two types of millicharge particles (mCPs): either with, or without, an accompanying dark photon. The...
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SpringerOpen
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2025)094 |
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| author | Xucheng Gan Yu-Dai Tsai |
| author_facet | Xucheng Gan Yu-Dai Tsai |
| author_sort | Xucheng Gan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We demonstrate that the searches for dark sector particles can provide probes of reheating scenarios, focusing on the cosmic millicharge background produced in the early universe. We discuss two types of millicharge particles (mCPs): either with, or without, an accompanying dark photon. These two types of mCPs have distinct theoretical motivations and cosmological signatures. We discuss constraints from the overproduction and mCP-baryon interactions of the mCP without an accompanying dark photon, with different reheating temperatures. We also consider the ∆N eff constraints on the mCPs from kinetic mixing, varying the reheating temperature. The regions of interest in which the accelerator and other experiments can probe the reheating scenarios are identified in this paper for both scenarios. These probes can potentially allow us to set an upper bound on the reheating temperature down to ~ 10 MeV, much lower than the previously considered upper bound from inflationary cosmology at around ~ 1016 GeV. In addition, we derive a new “distinguishability condition”, in which the two mCP scenarios may be differentiated by combining cosmological and theoretical considerations. Finally, we discuss the implications of dedicated mCP searches, future CMB-S4 observations, and the target for experiments when considering the minimally allowed reheating temperature. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-876a8af63c344bdb87c2b0e9e338efb6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-876a8af63c344bdb87c2b0e9e338efb62025-08-20T03:04:12ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-07-012025712710.1007/JHEP07(2025)094Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probesXucheng Gan0Yu-Dai Tsai1Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York UniversityLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)Abstract We demonstrate that the searches for dark sector particles can provide probes of reheating scenarios, focusing on the cosmic millicharge background produced in the early universe. We discuss two types of millicharge particles (mCPs): either with, or without, an accompanying dark photon. These two types of mCPs have distinct theoretical motivations and cosmological signatures. We discuss constraints from the overproduction and mCP-baryon interactions of the mCP without an accompanying dark photon, with different reheating temperatures. We also consider the ∆N eff constraints on the mCPs from kinetic mixing, varying the reheating temperature. The regions of interest in which the accelerator and other experiments can probe the reheating scenarios are identified in this paper for both scenarios. These probes can potentially allow us to set an upper bound on the reheating temperature down to ~ 10 MeV, much lower than the previously considered upper bound from inflationary cosmology at around ~ 1016 GeV. In addition, we derive a new “distinguishability condition”, in which the two mCP scenarios may be differentiated by combining cosmological and theoretical considerations. Finally, we discuss the implications of dedicated mCP searches, future CMB-S4 observations, and the target for experiments when considering the minimally allowed reheating temperature.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2025)094Cosmology of Theories BSMModels for Dark Matter |
| spellingShingle | Xucheng Gan Yu-Dai Tsai Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes Journal of High Energy Physics Cosmology of Theories BSM Models for Dark Matter |
| title | Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| title_full | Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| title_fullStr | Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| title_short | Cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| title_sort | cosmic millicharge background and reheating probes |
| topic | Cosmology of Theories BSM Models for Dark Matter |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2025)094 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xuchenggan cosmicmillichargebackgroundandreheatingprobes AT yudaitsai cosmicmillichargebackgroundandreheatingprobes |