Dark photon dark matter from a network of cosmic strings
Andrew J. Long
Leinweber Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48109, USA
Lian-Tao Wang
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
(Received 22 January 2019; published 26 March 2019)
We study the production of ultralight dark photons from a network of near-global, Abelian-Higgs cosmic
strings. We find that dark photons produced in this way are nonrelativistic today and can make up all of the
dark matter for dark photon masses as small as m
A
∼ 10
−22
eV.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.99.063529
I. INTRODUCTION
Although the evidence for a dark form of matter in the
Universe is overwhelming, we still know next to nothing
about its properties and interactions. In this article, we will
suppose that the dark matter is collection of nonrelativistic,
elementary particles and that the dark matter particle is
bosonic with its spin equal to 1 and its mass falling below
approximately 1 eV. Such dark matter candidates have been
called dark or hidden photons.
There is prolific and diverse literature on strategies for the
detection of dark photon dark matter. Sev eral notable
techniques include the use of resonant cavities [1,2],
resonant LC circuits [3], accelerometers [4], spin precession
[5], interferometers [6], periodic dielectric materials [7],
observations of the 21 cm radiation [8], observations of
astrophysical heating [9], and gravitational superradiance
[10]. While the multitude of experimental probes is encour-
aging, there is also a sense in which these phenomenological
studies are outpacing the theory work of model building.
Models of dark photon dark matter suffer from a notorious
production problem. In contrast with man y familiar models
of light scalar dark matter (including the QCD axion and
axionlike particles), light vector dark matter cannot be
generated from the misalignment mechanism if it is mini-
mally coupled to gravity [11–13]. The misalignment energy
density redshifts like ρ ∝ a
−2
during inflation and dilutes by
a factor of at least e
−120
if inflation lasts for more than 60
e-foldings. Alternatively, dark photon dark matter can arise
from inflationary quantum fluctuations (gravitational particle
production), since the longitudinal polarization mode is
not conformally coupled to gravity. Producing the observed
dark matter relic abundance in this way requires a dark
photon mass of m
A
≈ ð10
−5
eVÞðH
inf
=10
14
GeVÞ
−4
[14],
but since the inflationary Hubble scale is constrained to be
H
inf
≲ 10
14
GeV, this mechanism is inadequate for smaller
dark photon masses.
Another approach to the dark photon production prob-
lem involves first populating an auxiliary sector and then
transferring energy to the dark photon. This strategy has
been explored in several recent papers, which study the
energy transfer from a scalar condensate into the dark
photon via parametric resonance or tachyonic instability
[15–18]. Since the scale of the auxiliary sector is free to
slide (within limits), one finds viable models of dark photon
dark matter for a wide range of dark photon masses.
This article discusses the production of dark photon dark
matter from a network of cosmic strings. In the context of
the preceding discussion, the cosmic string network serves
as the “auxiliary sector,” which gradually transfers its
energy into producing dark photons. One appealing feature
of our scenario is that the cosmic strings follow from the
same physics that gives rise to the massive dark photon. For
instance, if the mass arises from a spontaneously broken
local symmetry, then the topology of the vacuum manifold
implies the existence of a cosmic string solution, and
causality arguments require a network of such strings to be
formed in the Universe if symmetry breaking takes place
after inflation is completed. Thus, we would argue that
cosmic strings provide a natural candidate for the source of
dark photon dark matter. Earlier work on (nonaxion) dark
matter production from defect networks can be found in
Refs. [19–22]; these studies did not consider the production
of dark photon dark matter, which, we will see, is more
similar to the production of axion dark matter.
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to
the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation,
and DOI. Funded by SCOAP
3
.
PHYSICAL REVIEW D 99, 063529 (2019)
2470-0010=2019=99(6)=063529(10) 063529-1 Published by the American Physical Society
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