| Summary: | Abstract We investigate the possibilities of searching for a self-conjugate polarizable particle in the self-interactions of light. We first observe that polarizability can arise either from the exchange of mediator states or as a consequence of the inner structure of the particle. To exemplify this second possibility we calculate the polarizability of a neutral bosonic open string, and find it is described only by dimension-8 operators. Focussing on the spin-0 case, we calculate the light-by-light scattering amplitudes induced by the dimension-6 and 8 polarizability operators. Performing a simulation of exclusive diphoton production with proton tagging at the LHC, we find that the imprint of the polarizable dark particle can be potentially detected at 5σ significance for mass and cutoff reaching values above the TeV scale, for s = 13 $$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV and 300 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. If the polarizable dark particle is stable, it can be a dark matter candidate, in which case we argue this exclusive diphoton search may complement the existing LHC searches for polarizable dark matter.
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