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Jae-Hyuk Jang

Seoul National University · Physics and Astronomy

About the Lab

Professor Jae-Hyuk Jang's research lab focuses on theoretical particle physics and cosmology, with a central emphasis on physics beyond the Standard Model. The lab investigates long-lived particles, dark matter candidates, and hidden sectors—particularly dark photons, millicharged particles, and axion-like particles—using constraints from astrophysical observations such as Supernova 1987A and cosmological data like the CMB and BAO. A key direction involves studying non-standard neutrino self-interactions and dissipative dark matter models that lead to the formation of compact dark structures, such as dark galaxies and asymmetric dark stars. The lab also develops novel theoretical diagnostics for probing small mixing angles and non-decoupling effects in dark sector phenomenology.

dark photonslong-lived particlesdark matterneutrino self-interactionscosmological constraints

Research Overview

Papers
32
Total Citations
1,601
Papers (5y)
23
Primary Field
Physics and Astronomy

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
23total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
368total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|458 citations·2018
Supernova 1987A constraints on sub-GeV dark sectors, millicharged particles, the QCD axion, and an axion-like particle
Jae Hyeok Chang, Rouven Essig, Samuel D. McDermott
SJR Q1Journal of High Energy PhysicsOA

A bstract We consider the constraints from Supernova 1987A on particles with small couplings to the Standard Model. We discuss a model with a fermion coupled to a dark photon, with various mass relations in the dark sector; millicharged particles; dark-sector fermions with inelastic transitions; the hadronic QCD axion; and an axion-like particle that couples to Standard Model fermions with couplings proportional to their mass. In the fermion cases, we develop a new diagnostic for assessing when

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
2
Article|384 citations·2019
Long-lived particles at the energy frontier: the MATHUSLA physics case
David Curtin, Marco Drewes, Matthew McCullough, Patrick Meade, Rabindra N. Mohapatra, Jessie Shelton, Brian Shuve, Elena Accomando, C. Alpigiani, Stefan Antusch, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, Brian Batell
SJR Q1Reports on Progress in PhysicsOA

We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of standard model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the [Formula: see text]m scale

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
3
Preprint|217 citations·2017
US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report
Yonit Hochberg, A. N. Villano, Andrei Afanasev, Andrew Geraci, N. Randazzo, C. Hearty, M. Wing, T. Markiewicz, Sheldon Campbell, J. P. Coleman, C. E. Dahl, Glennys R. Farrar
arXiv (Cornell University)OA

This white paper summarizes the workshop U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
4
Article|212 citations·2022
Revisiting Supernova 1987A constraints on dark photons
Jae Hyeok Chang
OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)OA

We revisit constraints on dark photons with masses below ~ 100 MeV from the observations of Supernova 1987A. If dark photons are produced in sufficient quantity, they reduce the amount of energy emitted in the form of neutrinos, in conflict with observations. For the first time, we include the effects of finite temperature and density on the kinetic-mixing parameter,ϵ, in this environment. This causes the constraints on ϵ to weaken with the dark-photon mass below ~ 15 MeV. For large-enough value

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
5
Article|97 citations·2020
Self-interacting neutrinos, the Hubble parameter tension, and the Cosmic Microwave Background
Thejs Brinckmann, Jae Hyeok Chang, Marilena Loverde
arXiv (Cornell University)OA

We perform a comprehensive study of cosmological constraints on non-standard neutrino self-interactions using cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation data. We consider different scenarios for neutrino self-interactions distinguished by the fraction of neutrino states allowed to participate in self-interactions and how the relativistic energy density, N$_{\textrm{eff}}$, is allowed to vary. Specifically, we study cases in which: all neutrino states self-interact and N$_{

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
6
Article|70 citations·2019
Structure formation and exotic compact objects in a dissipative dark sector
Jae Hyeok Chang, Daniel Egaña-Ugrinovic, Rouven Essig, Chris Kouvaris
SJR Q2Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle PhysicsOA

Here, we present the complete history of structure formation in a simple dissipative dark-sector model. The model has only two particles: a dark electron, which is a subdominant component of dark matter, and a dark photon. Dark-electron perturbations grow from primordial overdensities, become non-linear, and form dense dark galaxies. Bremsstrahlung cooling leads to fragmentation of the dark-electron halos into clumps that vary in size from a few to millions of solar masses, depending on the part

Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy
7
Article|43 citations·2023
Light(ly)-coupled dark matter in the keV range: freeze-in and constraints
Jae Hyeok Chang
OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)OA

Dark matter produced from thermal freeze-out is typically restricted to have masses above roughly 1 MeV. However, if the couplings are small, the freeze-in mechanism allows for production of dark matter down to keV masses. We consider dark matter coupled to a dark photon that mixes with the photon and dark matter coupled to photons through an electric or magnetic dipole moment. We discuss contributions to the freeze-in production of such dark matter particles from standard model fermion-antiferm

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
8
Article|32 citations·2023
Confronting interacting dark radiation scenarios with cosmological data
Thejs Brinckmann, Jae Hyeok Chang, Peizhi Du, Marilena Loverde
SJR Q1Physical review. D/Physical review. D.OA

Dark radiation (DR) is generally predicted in new physics scenarios that address fundamental puzzles of the Standard Model or tensions in the cosmological data. Cosmological data have the sensitivity to constrain not only the energy density of DR but also whether it is interacting. In this paper, we present a systematic study of five types of interacting DR (free-streaming, fluid, decoupling, instantaneous decoupling, and recoupling DR) and their impact on cosmological observables. We modify the

Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy
9
Article|19 citations·2023
Detecting axionlike particles with primordial black holes
Kaustubh Agashe, Jae Hyeok Chang, Steven J. Clark, Bhaskar Dutta, Yuhsin Tsai, Tao Xu
SJR Q1Physical review. D/Physical review. D.OA

Future gamma-ray experiments, such as the e-ASTROGAM and AMEGO telescopes, can detect the Hawking radiation of photons from primordial black holes (PBHs) if they make up a fraction or all of dark matter. PBHs can analogously also Hawking radiate new particles, which is especially interesting if these particles are mostly secluded from the Standard Model sector, since they might therefore be less accessible otherwise. A well-motivated example of this type is axionlike particles (ALPs) with a tiny

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
10
Article|18 citations·2024
Axion stars: mass functions and constraints
Jae Hyeok Chang, Patrick J. Fox, Huangyu Xiao
SJR Q2Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle PhysicsOA

Abstract The QCD axion and axion-like particles, as leading dark matter candidates, can also have interesting implications for dark matter substructures if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation. In such a scenario, axion perturbations on small scales will lead to the formation of axion miniclusters at matter-radiation equality, and subsequently the formation of axion stars. Such compact objects open new windows for indirect searches for axions. We compute the axion star mass functi

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
11
Article|14 citations·2022
Electroweak asymmetric early Universe via a scalar condensate
Jae Hyeok Chang, María Olalla Olea-Romacho, Erwin H. Tanin
SJR Q1Physical review. D/Physical review. D.OA

Finite temperature effects in the Standard Model tend to restore the electroweak symmetry in the early universe, but new fields coupled to the Higgs field may as well reverse this tendency, leading to the so-called electroweak symmetry nonrestoration (EW SNR) scenario. Previous works on EW SNR often assume that the reversal is due to the thermal fluctuations of new fields with negative quartic couplings to the Higgs, and they tend to find that a large number of new fields are required. We observ

Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy
12
Article|11 citations·2023
Gravitational wave signatures from reheating
Manuel A. Buen-Abad, Jae Hyeok Chang, Anson Hook
SJR Q1Physical review. D/Physical review. D.OA

We initiate a study of the gravitational-wave signatures of a phase transition that occurs as the Universe's temperature increases during reheating. The gravitational-wave signatures of such a heating phase transition are different from those of a cooling phase transition, and their detection could allow us to probe reheating. In the lucky case that the gravitational-wave signatures from both the heating and cooling phase transitions were to be observed, information about reheating could in prin

Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy
13
Article|11 citations·2022
Dark Solar Wind
Jae Hyeok Chang, David E. Kaplan, Surjeet Rajendran, Harikrishnan Ramani, Erwin H. Tanin
SJR Q1Physical Review LettersOA

We study the solar emission of light dark sector particles that self-interact strongly enough to self-thermalize. The resulting outflow behaves like a fluid which accelerates under its own thermal pressure to highly relativistic bulk velocities in the solar system. Compared to the ordinary noninteracting scenario, the local outflow has at least ∼10^{3} higher number density and correspondingly at least ∼10^{3} lower average energy per particle. We show how this generic phenomenon arises in a dar

Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy
14
Article|7 citations·2012
Role of oxygen vacancies formed between top electrodes and epitaxial NiO films in bipolar resistance switching
S.R. Lee, H.M. Kim, 차국린, 장재혁, 김미영, M.R. Cho, Y.D. Park, R. Jung, D.C. Kim, S. Seo

We investigated bipolar resistance switching (RS) behavior of a top electrode/epitaxial NiO using Al and Pt as the top electrodes (TEs) and epitaxial NiO deposited at 500 ℃ (NiO-500) and 700 ℃ (NiO-700). We found that the contact between Al and Pt TEs and NiO-500 was a high resistance insulating contact, while the contact between the two TEs and NiO-700 was a low-resistance metallic contact. We also found that only NiO-500 with the Pt TE exhibited bipolar RS after an electroforming process. This

15
Article|6 citations·2023
Spectral distortions of astrophysical blackbodies as axion probes
Jae Hyeok Chang, Reza Ebadi, Xuheng Luo, Erwin H. Tanin
SJR Q1Physical review. D/Physical review. D.OA

Recent studies reveal that more than a dozen of white dwarfs displaying near-perfect blackbody spectra in the optical range have been lurking in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey catalog. We point out that, in a way analogous to the cosmic microwave background, these stars serve as excellent test beds for new physics. Specifically, we show how their observed lack of spectral distortions translates into limits on the parameter space of axions with electromagnetic coupling. The prospects for future imp

Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy

Research Areas

Astronomy and AstrophysicsNuclear and High Energy PhysicsAerospace EngineeringCivil and Structural EngineeringNumerical Analysis

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