Gravitational Production of Completely Dark Photons with Nonminimal Couplings to Gravity

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Capanelli, Christian, Jenks, Leah, Kolb, Edward W., McDonough, Evan
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Capanelli, Christian
Jenks, Leah
Kolb, Edward W.
McDonough, Evan
author_facet Capanelli, Christian
Jenks, Leah
Kolb, Edward W.
McDonough, Evan
contents Dark photons are a theorized massive spin-1 particle which can be produced via various mechanisms, including cosmological gravitational particle production (GPP) in the early universe. In this work, we extend previous results for GPP of dark photons to include nonminimal couplings to gravity. We find that nonminimal couplings can induce a ghost instability or lead to runaway particle production at high momentum and discuss the constraints on the parameter space such that the theory is free of instabilities. Within the instability-free regime we numerically calculate the particle production and find that the inclusion of nonminimal couplings can lead to an enhancement of the particle number. As a result, GPP of nonminimally coupled dark photons can open the parameter space for production of a cosmological relevant relic density (constituting all or part of the dark matter) as compared to the minimally-coupled theory. These results are independent of the choice of inflation model, which we demonstrate by repeating the analysis for a class of rapid-turn multi-field inflation models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_19390
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gravitational Production of Completely Dark Photons with Nonminimal Couplings to Gravity
Capanelli, Christian
Jenks, Leah
Kolb, Edward W.
McDonough, Evan
High Energy Physics - Theory
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Dark photons are a theorized massive spin-1 particle which can be produced via various mechanisms, including cosmological gravitational particle production (GPP) in the early universe. In this work, we extend previous results for GPP of dark photons to include nonminimal couplings to gravity. We find that nonminimal couplings can induce a ghost instability or lead to runaway particle production at high momentum and discuss the constraints on the parameter space such that the theory is free of instabilities. Within the instability-free regime we numerically calculate the particle production and find that the inclusion of nonminimal couplings can lead to an enhancement of the particle number. As a result, GPP of nonminimally coupled dark photons can open the parameter space for production of a cosmological relevant relic density (constituting all or part of the dark matter) as compared to the minimally-coupled theory. These results are independent of the choice of inflation model, which we demonstrate by repeating the analysis for a class of rapid-turn multi-field inflation models.
title Gravitational Production of Completely Dark Photons with Nonminimal Couplings to Gravity
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.19390