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arXiv · 1710.00850

Bounding Quantum Dark Forces

Abstract

Dark sectors lying beyond the Standard Model and containing sub-GeV particles which are bilinearly coupled to nucleons would induce quantum forces of the Casimir-Polder type in ordinary matter. Such new forces can be tested by a variety of experiments over many orders of magnitude. We provide a generic interpretation of these experimental searches and apply it to a sample of forces from dark scalars behaving as $1/r^3$, $1/r^5$, $1/r^7$ at short range. The landscape of constraints on such quantum forces differs from the one of modified gravity with Yukawa interactions, and features in particular strong short-distance bounds from molecular spectroscopy and neutron scattering.

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Philippe Brax, Sylvain Fichet, Guillaume Pignol. 2017-10-02. Bounding Quantum Dark Forces. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.115034

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