Searching for Dark Photon Tridents Through Primordial Black Hole Signatures

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cheung, Kingman, Ouseph, C. J., Tseng, Po-Yan, Kang, Sin Kyu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917946971914240
author Cheung, Kingman
Ouseph, C. J.
Tseng, Po-Yan
Kang, Sin Kyu
author_facet Cheung, Kingman
Ouseph, C. J.
Tseng, Po-Yan
Kang, Sin Kyu
contents The detection of gamma-ray signals from primordial black holes (PBHs) could provide compelling evidence for their role as a dark matter candidate, particularly through the observation of their Hawking radiation. Future gamma-ray observatories, such as e-ASTROGAM, and the next-generation telescopes, are poised to explore this possibility by measuring both Standard Model (SM) and beyond-the-SM particle emissions. A particularly promising avenue involves production of dark photons by PBHs, which is a hypothetical particle that decays into photons. In this work, we investigate the trident decay of dark photons focusing on their primary emission from PBHs. We assume that the dark photons produced via Hawking radiation decay into photons well before reaching Earth, thereby enhancing the detectable gamma-ray flux. The energy spectrum of the photons decaying from the dark photons is distinct from that of direct Hawking-radiated photons due to higher degree of freedom, leading to observable modifications in the gamma-ray signal. Using the asteroid-mass PBHs as a case study, we demonstrate that future gamma-ray missions could detect dark-photon signatures and distinguish them from conventional Hawking radiation. This approach enables the exploration of previously inaccessible parameter spaces in dark photon mass $m_{A^{\prime}}$ and their coupling to photons, offering a novel pathway to uncover the properties of dark sectors and the nature of PBHs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_04175
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Searching for Dark Photon Tridents Through Primordial Black Hole Signatures
Cheung, Kingman
Ouseph, C. J.
Tseng, Po-Yan
Kang, Sin Kyu
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The detection of gamma-ray signals from primordial black holes (PBHs) could provide compelling evidence for their role as a dark matter candidate, particularly through the observation of their Hawking radiation. Future gamma-ray observatories, such as e-ASTROGAM, and the next-generation telescopes, are poised to explore this possibility by measuring both Standard Model (SM) and beyond-the-SM particle emissions. A particularly promising avenue involves production of dark photons by PBHs, which is a hypothetical particle that decays into photons. In this work, we investigate the trident decay of dark photons focusing on their primary emission from PBHs. We assume that the dark photons produced via Hawking radiation decay into photons well before reaching Earth, thereby enhancing the detectable gamma-ray flux. The energy spectrum of the photons decaying from the dark photons is distinct from that of direct Hawking-radiated photons due to higher degree of freedom, leading to observable modifications in the gamma-ray signal. Using the asteroid-mass PBHs as a case study, we demonstrate that future gamma-ray missions could detect dark-photon signatures and distinguish them from conventional Hawking radiation. This approach enables the exploration of previously inaccessible parameter spaces in dark photon mass $m_{A^{\prime}}$ and their coupling to photons, offering a novel pathway to uncover the properties of dark sectors and the nature of PBHs.
title Searching for Dark Photon Tridents Through Primordial Black Hole Signatures
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04175