Constraints on hidden photons produced in nuclear reactors

Abstract

New light vector particles - hidden photons - are present in many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. They can be produced in nuclear reactors and registered by neutrino detectors. We obtain new limits on the models with the hidden photons from an analysis of published results of the TEXONO neutrino experiment. Accounting for oscillations between the visible and hidden photons, we find that the neutrino experiments are generally insensitive to the hidden photons lighter than $\sim 0.1$\,eV.

Comments: 5 pages, 1 figure, version accepted by PRL