Constraining the mass of dark photons and axion-like particles through black-hole superradiance
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Abstract
Ultralight bosons and axion-like particles appear naturally in different
scenarios and could solve some long-standing puzzles. Their detection is
challenging, and all direct methods hinge on unknown couplings to the Standard
Model of particle physics. However, the universal coupling to gravity provides
model-independent signatures for these fields. We explore here the superradiant
instability of spinning black holes triggered in the presence of such fields.
The instability taps angular momentum from and limits the maximum spin of
astrophysical black holes. We compute, for the first time, the spectrum of the
most unstable modes of a massive vector (Proca) field for generic black-hole
spin and Proca mass. The observed stability of the inner disk of stellar-mass
black holes can be used to derive \emph{direct} constraints on the mass of dark
photons in the mass range $ 10^{-13},{\rm eV}\lesssim m_V \lesssim 3\times
10^{-12},{\rm eV}$. By including also higher azimuthal modes, similar
constraints apply to axion-like particles in the mass range
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1475-7516
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Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/L000636/1)
European Research Council (646597)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (690904)