Robust constraints on feebly interacting particles using XMM-Newton

Abstract

During galactic supernova (SN) explosions, a large amount of feebly interacting particles (FIPs) may be produced. In this work we analyze electrophilic FIPs with masses in the MeV-range that escape from SN and decay into electron-positron pairs, causing an exotic leptonic injection. This contribution adds up to known components, leading to an unexpected excess of x-ray fluxes generated by inverse-Compton scattering of the injected particles on low-energy photon backgrounds. For the first time in the context of FIPs, we use XMM-Newton x-ray measurements to obtain the strongest and most robust bounds on electrophilic FIPs produced by SN in our Galaxy.