Search for Higgs shifts in white dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper searches for differential spectral shifts in white dwarfs to set upper bounds on Higgs field coupling to spacetime curvature, offering a novel astrophysical approach to fundamental physics constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a new astrophysical method to constrain Higgs-curvature coupling using white dwarf spectra, complementing laboratory and high-energy physics experiments.

Findings

No differential shifts detected within spectral resolution

First astrophysical upper bound on Higgs-curvature coupling

Methodology applicable to other scalar field and curvature invariant studies

Abstract

We report on a search for differential shifts between electronic and vibronic transitions in carbon-rich white dwarfs BPM 27606 and Procyon B. The absence of differential shifts within the spectral resolution and taking into account systematic effects such as space motion and pressure shifts allows us to set the first upper bound of astrophysical origin on the coupling between the Higgs field and the Kreschmann curvature invariant. Our analysis provides the basis for a more general methodology to derive bounds to the coupling of long-range scalar fields to curvature invariants in an astrophysical setting complementary to the ones available from high-energy physics or table-top experiments.