Minicharged Particles from the Sun: A Cutting-Edge Bound

TL;DR

This paper derives a new, precise bound on minicharged particles from solar data, improving previous limits by considering detailed models and observational errors.

Contribution

It provides a more accurate and theoretically grounded constraint on minicharged particles using solar helioseismology and neutrino data.

Findings

Bound on minicharged particle charge: ε < 2.2×10⁻¹⁴ at 95% CL

Comparable to globular cluster star limits, with improved understanding

Incorporates theoretical and observational uncertainties

Abstract

We study the impact on the Sun of an exotic energy-loss channel caused by plasmon decay into fermionic minicharged particles with charge $\epsilon e$ and mass $m_f$. We compare solar models with this extra emission to helioseismological and neutrino data, obtaining a bound $\epsilon <2.2\times 10^{-14}\ ({\rm 95\%\, CL})$ for $m_f\lesssim 25 \, \text{eV}$. Our result is comparable to previous limits from the cooling of globular cluster stars, while at the same time it is better understood and takes theoretical and observational errors into account.