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Main Authors: Kumar, Tanmoy, Roy, Sourov
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.07563
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author Kumar, Tanmoy
Roy, Sourov
author_facet Kumar, Tanmoy
Roy, Sourov
contents Chameleon dark energy models are a popular alternative to the standard cosmological constant model. These models consist of a new light degree of freedom, called chameleon, with a density dependent mass and a non-trivial coupling to both matter and photons. Owing to these couplings, chameleons can be produced inside the sun. However due to their density dependent mass, the chameleons produced in the solar core are screened and cannot escape whereas those produced outside the solar core, such as in the \textit{tachocline} region with energies of the order of few a keV, can escape from the sun and travel all the way towards Earth. Hence the Earth is expected to receive a flux of \textit{solar chameleons}. In this work we propose a \textit{light shining through wall} (LSW) type of experiment in which the Earth itself acts as a wall. Both photons and chameleons are incident on the light side of the Earth. While all the photons are stopped by the Earth, only a fraction of the chameleons are stopped by the earth due to screening. Those chameleons which are not screened by the earth pass directly through the Earth and exit the night side. Here these chameleons interact with the geomagnetic field and convert into X-ray photons. A space based X-ray telescope orbiting the Earth can detect these X-ray photons, while passing through the night side, thereby acting as a detector in this LSW type experiment. We show that such a kind of setup can be complementary to other terrestrial experiments looking for chameleons.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_07563
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Signatures of Solar Chameleons in the Earth's Magnetic Field
Kumar, Tanmoy
Roy, Sourov
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Chameleon dark energy models are a popular alternative to the standard cosmological constant model. These models consist of a new light degree of freedom, called chameleon, with a density dependent mass and a non-trivial coupling to both matter and photons. Owing to these couplings, chameleons can be produced inside the sun. However due to their density dependent mass, the chameleons produced in the solar core are screened and cannot escape whereas those produced outside the solar core, such as in the \textit{tachocline} region with energies of the order of few a keV, can escape from the sun and travel all the way towards Earth. Hence the Earth is expected to receive a flux of \textit{solar chameleons}. In this work we propose a \textit{light shining through wall} (LSW) type of experiment in which the Earth itself acts as a wall. Both photons and chameleons are incident on the light side of the Earth. While all the photons are stopped by the Earth, only a fraction of the chameleons are stopped by the earth due to screening. Those chameleons which are not screened by the earth pass directly through the Earth and exit the night side. Here these chameleons interact with the geomagnetic field and convert into X-ray photons. A space based X-ray telescope orbiting the Earth can detect these X-ray photons, while passing through the night side, thereby acting as a detector in this LSW type experiment. We show that such a kind of setup can be complementary to other terrestrial experiments looking for chameleons.
title Signatures of Solar Chameleons in the Earth's Magnetic Field
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.07563