Earth screening of quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter produces a multi-band frequency structure in the induced force whose sideband amplitudes vary annually, enabling improved constraints from MICROSCOPE and future EP missions.
Searching for dilaton dark matter with atomic clocks
10 Pith papers cite this work, alongside 405 external citations. Polarity classification is still indexing.
10
Pith papers citing it
405
external citations · Pith
abstract
We propose an experiment to search for ultralight scalar dark matter (DM) with dilatonic interactions. Such couplings can arise for the dilaton as well as for moduli and axion-like particles in the presence of CP violation. Ultralight dilaton DM acts as a background field that can cause tiny but coherent oscillations in Standard Model parameters such as the fine structure constant and the proton-electron mass ratio. These minute variations can be detected through precise frequency comparisons of atomic clocks. Our experiment extends current searches for drifts in fundamental constants to the well-motivated high-frequency regime. Our proposed setups can probe scalars lighter than 10^-15 eV with discovery potential of dilatonic couplings as weak as 10^-11 times the strength of gravity, improving current equivalence principle bounds by up to 8 orders of magnitude. We point out potential 10^4 sensitivity enhancements with future optical and nuclear clocks, as well as possible signatures in gravitational wave detectors. Finally, we discuss cosmological constraints and astrophysical hints of ultralight scalar DM, and show they are complimentary to and compatible with the parameter range accessible to our proposed laboratory experiments.
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background 3representative citing papers
Ultralight dark matter exhibits recoherence due to the solar gravitational potential, yielding formally divergent coherence times at long timescales and enhanced search sensitivity.
LISA forecasts for quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter show competitive or superior sensitivity to terrestrial and astrophysical probes in selected mass windows, free of screening.
Introduces a directional force template for quadratic ultralight DM couplings, recasts MICROSCOPE constraints, and estimates sensitivity improvement in the anisotropic regime.
In asymptotically safe gravity, dimension-five couplings of ultralight scalar dark matter to gauge field strengths vanish and are not generated perturbatively.
White dwarf mass-radius data exclude large parameter space for ultralight scalars quadratically coupled to fermions by predicting forbidden radius gaps and mass shifts toward the Chandrasekhar limit or altered maximum masses.
Ultralight dark matter induces oscillating CKM elements that can be probed at NA62 through direct counting of meson decay events, which avoids sensitivity loss from unknown particle flux.
Supersymmetry can stabilize an ultralight dilaton dark matter candidate, but gravity restricts its Standard Model couplings to undetectable levels, making consistent model building involved.
Using S2 star periastron precession, the work constrains ultralight scalar dark matter mass ratios to below 10^{-3} or 1 and improves quadratic coupling bounds for masses 10^{-20} to 10^{-18} eV.
Gravitational dark matter candidates with masses in [10^{-3}, 1] eV could produce a measurable effective time variation of the proton mass with future atomic clocks.
citing papers explorer
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Background-Induced Forces from Quadratically Coupled Ultralight Dark Matter
Earth screening of quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter produces a multi-band frequency structure in the induced force whose sideband amplitudes vary annually, enabling improved constraints from MICROSCOPE and future EP missions.
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Is the Conventional Picture of Coherence Time Complete? Dark Matter Recoherence
Ultralight dark matter exhibits recoherence due to the solar gravitational potential, yielding formally divergent coherence times at long timescales and enhanced search sensitivity.
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Probing Quadratically Coupled Ultralight Dark Matter with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
LISA forecasts for quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter show competitive or superior sensitivity to terrestrial and astrophysical probes in selected mass windows, free of screening.
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A directional force template for quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter
Introduces a directional force template for quadratic ultralight DM couplings, recasts MICROSCOPE constraints, and estimates sensitivity improvement in the anisotropic regime.
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Towards theory constraints on ultralight dark matter from quantum gravity
In asymptotically safe gravity, dimension-five couplings of ultralight scalar dark matter to gauge field strengths vanish and are not generated perturbatively.
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$\phi$-Dwarfs: White Dwarfs probe Quadratically Coupled Scalars
White dwarf mass-radius data exclude large parameter space for ultralight scalars quadratically coupled to fermions by predicting forbidden radius gaps and mass shifts toward the Chandrasekhar limit or altered maximum masses.
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Oscillating Imprints of Dark Matter in Mesons Decays
Ultralight dark matter induces oscillating CKM elements that can be probed at NA62 through direct counting of meson decay events, which avoids sensitivity loss from unknown particle flux.
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Ultralight Dilatonic Dark Matter
Supersymmetry can stabilize an ultralight dilaton dark matter candidate, but gravity restricts its Standard Model couplings to undetectable levels, making consistent model building involved.
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Constraining Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter in the Galactic Center with the S2 Orbit
Using S2 star periastron precession, the work constrains ultralight scalar dark matter mass ratios to below 10^{-3} or 1 and improves quadratic coupling bounds for masses 10^{-20} to 10^{-18} eV.
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On Searches for Gravitational Dark Matter with Quantum Sensors
Gravitational dark matter candidates with masses in [10^{-3}, 1] eV could produce a measurable effective time variation of the proton mass with future atomic clocks.