Is the $W$-boson mass enhanced by the axion-like particle, dark photon, or chameleon dark energy?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether axion-like particles, dark photons, or chameleon dark energy could explain the observed excess in the W-boson mass, but finds most explanations are strongly constrained or ruled out by existing data.

Contribution

The study evaluates the potential of ALP, dark photon, and chameleon dark energy models to account for the W-boson mass anomaly, narrowing down or excluding these options based on current constraints.

Findings

ALP and dark photon interpretations are significantly constrained by electroweak fits.

Chameleon dark energy explanation is ruled out by other experiments.

Most new physics explanations for the W-boson mass excess are strongly limited or excluded.

Abstract

The $W$-boson mass ($m_{W}=80.4335 \pm 0.0094 \mathrm{GeV}$) measured by the Collider Detector at Fermilab collaboration is greater than the standard model (SM) prediction at a confidence level of $7\sigma$, strongly suggesting the presence of new particles or fields. In the literature, various new particles and/or fields have been introduced to explain the astrophysical and experimental data, and their presence, in principle, may also enhance the $W$-boson mass. In this study, we investigate axion-like particle (ALP), dark photon (DP), and chameleon dark energy (DE) models for a solution to the $W$-boson mass excess. We find that the ALP and DP interpretations have been significantly narrowed down by global electroweak fits. The possibility of attributing the $W-$boson mass anomaly to the chameleon DE is ruled out by other experiments.