Gravitational Production of Dark Photons and Their Role as Dark Matter Candidates

Explore a physics seminar presentation where Leah Jenks from the University of Chicago's KICP discusses the gravitational particle production of dark photons during cosmic inflation. Delve into the complexities of dark photons as potential dark matter candidates, with particular emphasis on their nonminimal couplings to gravity. Learn about the theoretical challenges, including ghost instabilities and "runaway" production phenomena, and understand the constraints these place on coupling parameters. Discover how dark photons, within specific parameter spaces that avoid these instabilities, could potentially account for the universe's dark matter content through gravitational production mechanisms during cosmic expansion.