The very high precision of current measurements and theory predictions of spectral lines in few-electron atoms allows us to efficiently probe the existence of exotic forces between electrons, neutrons and protons. We investigate the sensitivity to new spin-independent interactions in transition frequencies (and their isotopic shifts) of hydrogen, helium and some heliumlike ions. We find that present data probe new regions of the force-carrier couplings to electrons and neutrons around the MeV mass range. We also find that, below few keV, the sensitivity to the electron coupling in precision spectroscopy of helium and positronium is comparable to that of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron. Finally, we interpret our results in the dark-photon model where a new gauge boson is kinetically mixed with the photon. There, we show that helium transitions, combined with the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, provide the strongest indirect bound from laboratory experiments above 100 keV.

• Received 25 September 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.115002