Eur. Phys. J. C (2015) 75: 307
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3523-5

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Higgs shifts from electron–positron annihilations near neutron stars

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA
² Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ’Galileo Galilei’, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131, Padova, Italy
³ ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

^* e-mail: onofrior@gmail.com

Received: 6 March 2015
Accepted: 14 June 2015
Published online: 4 July 2015

Abstract

We discuss the potential for using neutron stars to determine bounds on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling by looking at peculiar shifts in gamma-ray spectroscopic features. In particular, we reanalyze multiple lines observed in GRB781119 detected by two gamma-ray spectrometers, and derive an upper bound on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling that is much more constraining than the one recently obtained from white dwarfs. This calls for targeted analyses of spectra of gamma-ray bursts from more recent observatories, dedicated searches for differential shifts on electron–positron and proton–antiproton annihilation spectra in proximity of compact sources, and signals of electron and proton cyclotron lines from the same neutron star.