Circumstellar Medium of Supernovae as New Probes for Feebly-interacting Particles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method using supernova circumstellar media to detect feebly-interacting particles, providing stronger constraints and novel diagnostics for dark sector physics through early supernova observations.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach to probe feebly-interacting particles via supernova circumstellar medium heating and ionization, extending existing bounds and suggesting new observational diagnostics.

Findings

Stringent new constraints on MeV-scale dark photons from SN 2023ixf data.

Demonstrated that FIP-induced dust sublimation can serve as a diagnostic in future supernovae.

Extended the parameter space exclusion for feebly-interacting particles beyond previous limits.

Abstract

We propose a novel strategy to probe feebly-interacting particles (FIPs) by exploiting the dense, confined circumstellar medium (CSM) surrounding core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). FIPs produced in the proto-neutron star can deposit substantial visible energy into the CSM via decay prior to the shock breakout from the progenitor star. This energy injection heats and ionizes the CSM, establishing a FIP-induced photosphere that generates distinctive precursor blackbody emission. Using early-time observations of SN 2023ixf, we translate the non-detection of excessive precursor luminosity into stringent new constraints on MeV-scale dark photons as an exemplary model. Our results significantly extend existing CCSN bounds and exclude previously unexplored regions of parameter space. We further demonstrate that the FIP-induced dust sublimation offers robust diagnostics for future Galactic SNe, opening a new avenue to explore the dark sector.