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arXiv · 2603.09615

Circumstellar Medium of Supernovae as New Probes for Feebly-interacting Particles

Yu Cheng·Chui-Fan Kong·Yen-Hsun Lin·Meng-Ru Wu·Seokhoon Yun
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Abstract

We propose a novel strategy to probe feebly-interacting particles (FIPs) by exploiting the dense, confined circumstellar medium (CSM) surrounding core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). FIPs produced in the proto-neutron star can deposit substantial visible energy into the CSM via decay prior to the shock breakout from the progenitor star. This energy injection heats and ionizes the CSM, establishing a FIP-induced photosphere that generates distinctive precursor blackbody emission. Using early-time observations of SN 2023ixf, we translate the non-detection of excessive precursor luminosity into stringent new constraints on MeV-scale dark photons as an exemplary model. Our results significantly extend existing CCSN bounds and exclude previously unexplored regions of parameter space. We further demonstrate that the FIP-induced dust sublimation offers robust diagnostics for future Galactic SNe, opening a new avenue to explore the dark sector.

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Yu Cheng, Chui-Fan Kong, Yen-Hsun Lin, Meng-Ru Wu, Seokhoon Yun. 2026-03-10. Circumstellar Medium of Supernovae as New Probes for Feebly-interacting Particles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.09615

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