Detecting dark matter in electromagnetic field penetration experiments

Dark matter in the form of particles from a hidden mirror sector has recently been proposed as an explanation for the DAMA annual modulation signal. Here one assumes that there exists a small mixing between photons and mirror photons. We show that dark matter with this property can also be detected in electromagnetic field penetration experiments. Such experiments can be used to measure the speed and direction of the dark matter halo wind, the local density, the temperature, and the strength of the photon-mirror photon mixing interaction. An additional result would be a significant improvement of the upper limit on the photon mass.

Figure 1

The amplitudes $a_1$ and $a_2$ as a function of the frequency for the case $R=50\mathrm{m}$, $L=10\mathrm{m}$, and $|d|=4\mathrm{m}$.

Figure 2

The phase shifts ${\varphi }_1$ and ${\varphi }_2$ as a function of the frequency for the case $R=50\mathrm{m}$, $L=10\mathrm{m}$, and $|d|=4\mathrm{m}$. At zero frequency ${\varphi }_1=0\mathrm{mod}(2\pi )$ and ${\varphi }_2=\pi \mathrm{mod}(2\pi )$.

Figure 3

Deforming the Bromwich contour. The contour on the right is the Bromwich contour $C$ in Eq. (a9), the dots are the poles and the deformed contour is shown on the left.