Search for hidden photon dark matter

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26610059
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Particle/Nuclear/Cosmic ray/Astro physics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Minowa Makoto 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科(理学部), 名誉教授 (90126178)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: hidden sector / photon / dish antenna / dark

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We searched for hidden photon(HP) dark matter in two wavelength bands. It would be converted into an ordinary photon at a surface of conductive material with the kinetic mixing. HPs of order eV mass have been searched for using an optical concave mirror of 50cm diameter and a photon counting PMT. On the other hand, a dish antenna of 2.2m diameter for microwave reception has been used to search for HPs of lower mass in the region of 0.5×10{-4} eV. No signal was found in either of the search es and upper limits to the mixing parameter chi were set at χ < 6×10{-12} and χ < 2×10{-12} for HP mass 3.1 +/- 1.2 eV and ~0.5×10{-4} eV, respectively.
We invented a new method for the latter mass range to use a commercially available parabolic dish antenna with a plane reflector in front of the dish. Plane radio wave of HP origin would be emitted from the reflector perpendicularly to it. Because parabolic dishes concentrate plane wave to their focal point, it works properly.

Free Research Field

宇宙素粒子物理学実験