Probing the Axion--Photon--Dark Photon Interaction with LHC Mono-Photons and Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Lines
Abstract
We investigate the axion--photon--dark photon interaction at the LHC and in gamma-ray line searches. By recasting the CMS mono-photon data, we derive a 95% CL exclusion reaching gaγ'γ≃4.8×10−4 GeV−1 for dark photon masses mγ'≲100 GeV, with sensitivity extending to mγ'≃2.3 TeV, where the effective theory approaches its validity limit. This improves upon the existing LEP mono-photon constraint by a factor of $3$ or more, depending on the dark photon mass. The projected HL-LHC sensitivity improves by a further factor of ∼2.7 and extends the reach to mγ'≃3 TeV. The same interaction also induces s-wave annihilation of axions into γγ. If the axion constitutes dark matter, Fermi-LAT gamma-ray line data become more constraining than the LHC for ma≳160 GeV at mγ'=300 GeV, where the on-shell collider signal is kinematically suppressed. Combining collider and gamma-ray line constraints excludes a thermal relic axion across the axion mass range considered for this benchmark.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026probing,
title = {{Probing the Axion--Photon--Dark Photon Interaction with LHC Mono-Photons and Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Lines}},
author = {Chuan-Ren Chen and Takaaki Nomura and Van Que Tran},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.21989},
eprint = {2610.21989},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21989},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing the Axion--Photon--Dark Photon Interaction with LHC Mono-Photons and Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Lines
AU - Chuan-Ren Chen
AU - Takaaki Nomura
AU - Van Que Tran
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.21989
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21989
AB - We investigate the axion--photon--dark photon interaction at the LHC and in gamma-ray line searches. By recasting the CMS mono-photon data, we derive a 95% CL exclusion reaching g_aγ'γ≃4.8×10^−4 GeV^−1 for dark photon masses m_γ'≲100 GeV, with sensitivity extending to m_γ'≃2.3 TeV, where the effective theory approaches its validity limit. This improves upon the existing LEP mono-photon constraint by a factor of $3$ or more, depending on the dark photon mass. The projected HL-LHC sensitivity improves by a further factor of ∼2.7 and extends the reach to m_γ'≃3 TeV. The same interaction also induces s-wave annihilation of axions into γγ. If the axion constitutes dark matter, Fermi-LAT gamma-ray line data become more constraining than the LHC for m_a≳160 GeV at m_γ'=300 GeV, where the on-shell collider signal is kinematically suppressed. Combining collider and gamma-ray line constraints excludes a thermal relic axion across the axion mass range considered for this benchmark.
ER -