arXiv · 2205.11527
Dark Solar Wind
Abstract
We study the solar emission of light dark sector particles that self-interact strongly enough to self-thermalize. The resulting outflow behaves like a fluid which accelerates under its own thermal pressure to highly relativistic bulk velocities in the solar system. Compared to the ordinary non-interacting scenario, the local outflow has at least $\sim 10^3$ higher number density and correspondingly at least $\sim 10^3$ lower average energy per particle. We show how this generic phenomenon arises in a dark sector comprised of millicharged particles strongly self-interacting via a dark photon. The millicharged plasma wind emerging in this model has novel yet predictive signatures that encourages new experimental directions. This phenomenon demonstrates how a small step away from the simplest models can lead to radically different outcomes and thus motivates a broader search for dark sector particles.
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Jae Hyeok Chang, David E. Kaplan, Surjeet Rajendran, Harikrishnan Ramani, Erwin H. Tanin. 2022-05-23. Dark Solar Wind. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.129.211101
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