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Heavy dark photon handbook: Cosmological and astrophysical bounds

Andrea Caputo1,2,3,*, Jaeyoung Park4,1,†, and Seokhoon Yun5,6,‡

  • *Contact author: andrea.caputo@cern.ch
  • †Contact author: rsl958@snu.ac.kr
  • ‡Contact author: seokhoon.yun@knu.ac.kr
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 075001 – Published 1 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m6zs-jxxp

Abstract

We investigate cosmological and astrophysical constraints on dark photons with masses ∼10−1−103  MeV. These dark photons can be copiously produced either in the early Universe or during core-collapse supernovae, potentially leaving distinct observational signatures. First, we derive updated constraints from cosmological and astrophysical observables that rely on the thermal relic abundance of dark photons, including the cosmic microwave background spectrum, primordial light element abundances, and Galactic/extragalactic γ-ray flux. We consider the minimal reheating temperature possible, TRH=6  MeV, such that our constraints are conservative, but unavoidable within the minimal dark photon model. Then, for supernova-sourced dark photons, we systematically examine all relevant observational bounds, revisit the standard cooling argument and derive limits from other arguments such as fireball formation, low energy supernovae and Galactic positron injection.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 075001– Published 1 April, 2026
  • Received 17 December 2025
  • Accepted 11 March 2026
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