Dark gauge boson production from neutron stars via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung

Abstract

We discuss the dark gauge boson emission from neutron stars via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung. Through the rigorous treatment of the effective field theory prescription and the thermal effect, we derive the relevant couplings of dark gauge bosons to hadrons in medium. As a specific example, the $U(1{)}_{\mathrm{B}-\mathrm{L}}$ gauge boson scenario is chosen to investigate dark gauge boson emissivities during supernovae and cooling of young neutron stars. From the stellar cooling argument, we obtain the constraints on the $\mathrm{B}-\mathrm{L}$ gauge coupling for given gauge boson masses in two observations: the duration of the supernova neutrino signal of SN1987A, and the inferred x-ray luminosity of the compact object in the remnant of SN1987A (NS1987A). In particular, the constraint from SN1987A on the $U(1{)}_{\mathrm{B}-\mathrm{L}}$ gauge boson scenario is revisited. The excluded gauge coupling due to the emission of transverse polarizations is an order of magnitude enhanced compared to the previous derivation. There is also a newly excluded parameter space due to the emission of longitudinal polarizations.

Comments: 29 pages, 5 figures; v2: version published in JHEP, figures updated