A cavity experiment to search for hidden sector photons

We propose a cavity experiment to search for low mass extra U(I) gauge bosons with gauge-kinetic mixing with the ordinary photon, so-called paraphotons. The setup consists of two microwave cavities shielded from each other. In one cavity, paraphotons are produced via photon-paraphoton oscillations. The second, resonant, cavity is then driven by the paraphotons that permeate the shielding and reconvert into photons. This setup resembles the classic light shining through a wall setup. However, the high quality factors achievable for microwave cavities and the good sensitivity of microwave detectors allow for a projected sensitivity for photon-paraphoton mixing of the order of chi similar to 10(-12)-10(-8), for paraphotons with masses in the mu eV to meV range-exceeding the current laboratory and astrophysics-based limits by several orders of magnitude. Therefore, this experiment bears significant discovery potential for hidden sector physics. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.