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.
MICROSCOPE Mission: First Constraints on the Violation of the Weak Equivalence Principle by a Light Scalar Dilaton
5 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
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abstract
The existence of a light or massive scalar field with a coupling to matter weaker than gravitational strength is a possible source of violation of the weak equivalence principle. We use the first results on the E\"otv\"os parameter by the MICROSCOPE experiment to set new constraints on such scalar fields. For a massive scalar field of mass smaller than $10^{-12}$ eV (i.e. range larger than a few $10^5$ m) we improve existing constraints by one order of magnitude to $|\alpha|<10^{-11}$ if the scalar field couples to the baryon number and to $|\alpha|<10^{-12}$ if the scalar field couples to the difference between the baryon and the lepton numbers. We also consider a model describing the coupling of a generic dilaton to the standard matter fields with five parameters, for a light field: we find that for masses smaller than $10^{-12}$eV, the constraints on the dilaton coupling parameters are improved by one order of magnitude compared to previous equivalence principle tests.
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An ultralight scalar temporarily lowers a dark fermion mass via muon thermal density, opening efficient B meson dark decays for baryon asymmetry generation that later shuts off to match flavor data.
Self-interaction bounds from cosmology constrain ultralight dark matter couplings to neutrinos, electrons, and light quarks via unavoidable quantum loop corrections.
Current and future observations can test whether dark compact objects are Kerr black holes or exotic alternatives, with null results strengthening the black hole paradigm.
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Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report
Current and future observations can test whether dark compact objects are Kerr black holes or exotic alternatives, with null results strengthening the black hole paradigm.