Probing Dark Photons Through Gravitational Decoupling of Mass-State Oscillations in Interstellar Media

We propose a novel mechanism for photon–dark photon mass-state oscillations mediated by gravitational separation during propagation through the interstellar medium. This phenomenon establishes a new avenue for the detection of dark matter. By analyzing gravitational lensing data from quasars, we investigate the sensitivity of this approach to dark photons. Our analysis demonstrates constraints of ε<10−2 in the dark photon mass range of 1.7×10−14 eV to 5.4×10−14 eV. Furthermore, we propose potential applications of this mechanism to astrophysical systems with strong gravitational fields, such as neutron stars and black hole accretion disks.