Bounding Quantum Dark Forces

TL;DR

This paper explores hypothetical quantum forces from dark sectors beyond the Standard Model, analyzing how they could be detected through experiments and how current constraints limit their possible strength and range.

Contribution

It provides a generic framework for interpreting experimental searches for dark sector-induced quantum forces and applies it to forces with specific distance dependencies.

Findings

Strong short-distance bounds from molecular spectroscopy

Constraints from neutron scattering experiments

Distinct landscape compared to Yukawa-type modified gravity

Abstract

Dark sectors lying beyond the Standard Model and containing sub-GeV particles which are bilinearly coupled to nucleons would induce quantum forces of the Casimir-Polder type in ordinary matter. Such new forces can be tested by a variety of experiments over many orders of magnitude. We provide a generic interpretation of these experimental searches and apply it to a sample of forces from dark scalars behaving as $1/r^3$, $1/r^5$, $1/r^7$ at short range. The landscape of constraints on such quantum forces differs from the one of modified gravity with Yukawa interactions, and features in particular strong short-distance bounds from molecular spectroscopy and neutron scattering.