Microwave cavity hidden sector photon threshold crossing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel microwave cavity method to detect hidden sector photons by observing power drops at specific frequencies, offering a new approach to search for these elusive particles.

Contribution

The paper presents a new experimental technique using a single microwave cavity to detect hidden sector photons, avoiding leakage and matching issues of previous methods.

Findings

Demonstrated the feasibility of detecting hidden sector photons via power drops.

Identified the threshold frequency for photon oscillation into hidden sector particles.

Proposed a method that improves detection sensitivity over existing techniques.

Abstract

Hidden sector photons are a weakly interacting slim particle arising from an additional U(1) gauge symmetry predicted by many standard model extensions. We present and demonstrate a new experimental method using a single microwave cavity to search for hidden sector photons. Only photons with a great enough energy are able to oscillate into hidden sector photons of a particular mass. If our cavity is driven on resonance and tuned over the corresponding threshold frequency, there is an observable drop in the circulating power signifying the creation of hidden sector photons. This approach avoids the problems of microwave leakage and frequency matching inherent in photon regeneration techniques.