Search for Dark Photons between 16.96--19.52 $\mu$eV with the HAYSTAC Experiment

Abstract

We report dark photon results from HAYSTAC Phase II using data from previously reported axion searches. Additionally, we present an analysis of an unpublished dataset covering a region between 19.46--19.52 $\mu$eV. This region overlaps with a recently reported dark photon signal at 19.5 $\mu$eV with a kinetic coupling strength of $|\chi_{\text{rand}}| \simeq 6.5 \times 10^{-15}$ resulting from a reanalysis of previously published data from the TASEH collaboration. Given HAYSTAC's sensitivity, if such a signal were present, it would have appeared as a large $17.1\sigma$ excess above the noise. However, no such signal was observed. We thus exclude couplings $|\chi_{\text{rand}}|\geq 4.90\times10^{-15}$ at the 90\% confidence level over the newly reported region. In addition, using our previously reported axion data, we exclude couplings $|\chi_{\text{rand}}|\geq2.90\times 10^{-15}$ between 16.96--19.46 $\mu$eV at the 90\% confidence level.