New bounds on light millicharged particles from the tip of the red-giant branch

Abstract

Stellar energy loss is a sensitive probe of light, weakly coupled dark sectors, including ones containing millicharged particles (MCPs). The emission of MCPs can affect stellar evolution and therefore can alter the observed properties of stellar populations. In this work, we improve upon the accuracy of existing stellar limits on MCPs by self-consistently modeling (1) the MCP emission rate, accounting for all relevant in-medium effects and production channels and (2) the evolution of stellar interiors (including backreactions from MCP emission) using the stellar evolution code. We find MCP emission leads to significant brightening of the tip of the red-giant branch. Based on photometric observations of 15 globular clusters whose bolometric magnitudes are inferred using parallaxes from astrometry, we obtain robust bounds on the existence of MCPs with masses below 100 keV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024