Brown Bag Seminar | Detectable dark photon dark matter

Ultralight dark photons are dark matter candidates supported by a burgeoning direct-detection program searching for their kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon. A dark photon's dynamics in the early Universe, however, can easily breach the validity of the low-energy effective theory for a massive vector field, with disastrous consequences for its viability as a dark matter candidate. I will assess the extent to which the direct detection of dark photon dark matter would require a nonminimal dark sector. Specifically, I will survey the detection prospects of known dark photon production mechanisms, outline model-building strategies that are viable in expanded parameter space, and discuss complementary cosmological and astrophysical signatures that could probe the physics responsible for dark photon production.