Axion dark matter detection with cold molecules

By P. Graham, S. Rajendran. 2011

134 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Current techniques cannot detect axion dark matter over much of its parameter space, particularly in the theoretically well-motivated region where the axion decay constant f_a lies near the GUT and Planck scales. We suggest a novel experimental method to search for QCD axion dark matter in this region. The axion field oscillates at a frequency equal to its mass when it is a component of dark matter. These oscillations induce time varying CP-odd nuclear moments, such as electric dipole and Schiff moments. The coupling between internal atomic fields and these nuclear moments gives rise to time varying shifts to atomic energy levels. These effects can be enhanced by using elements with large Schiff moments such as the light Actinides, and states with large spontaneous parity violation, such as molecules in a background electric field. The energy level shift in such a molecule can be ~ 10^-24 eV or larger. While challenging, this energy shift may be observable in a molecular clock configuration with technology presently under development. The detectability of this energy shift is enhanced by the fact that it is a time varying shift whose oscillation frequency is set by fundamental physics and is therefore independent of the details of the experiment. This signal is most easily observed in the sub-MHz range, allowing detection when f_a is > 10^16 GeV, and possibly as low as 10^15 GeV. A discovery in such an experiment would not only reveal the nature of dark matter and confirm the axion as the solution to the strong CP problem, it would also provide a glimpse of physics at the highest energy scales, far beyond what can be directly probed in the laboratory.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dcc2465251a8b752e5be6ac71c94271acb4c678a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. A. Ringwald
2. J. Redondo
3. P. Graham
4. S. Rajendran
5. Igor G. Irastorza
6. Dmitry Budker
7. D. DeMille
8. J. Mardon

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. J. Redondo
2. A. Ringwald
3. Igor G. Irastorza
4. P. Graham
5. S. Rajendran
6. M. Goodsell
7. J. Mardon
8. M. Cicoli

Citations in the corpus

• Towards a new generation axion helioscope (2011, methodology): “ 200 µeV [9]. In addition to this “classic axion window,” the neV mass range or below has been considered as the “anthropic axion window” [36, 37] and a possible search strategy was recently proposed [38]. In the classic window, Sikivie’s haloscope technique [10], based on axion conversion into micr”
• Exploring the Role of Axions and Other WISPs in the Dark Universe (2012, background): “[111]: the idea is to search for oscillating nuclear electric dipole moments induced by the oscillating galactic dark matter axion field.”
• The type IIB string axiverse and its low-energy phenomenology (2012, background): “Recently, [13] reported the possibility of probing for QCD axion dark matter for decay constants between 1016 and 1019 GeV via molecular interferometry experiments.”
• Angular Momentum and Vortex Formation in Bose-Einstein-Condensed Cold Dark Matter Haloes (2011, background): “An interesting, but very challenging experimental proposal for detecting such particles, by exploiting their supposed coupling to gluons, has been presented recently by Graham & Rajendran (2011).”
• Proposal for a Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr) (2013, background): “It was pointed out in [36] that axion dark matter could be detected in future molecular interferometers using this oscillating EDM.”
• Cosmological Relaxation of the Electroweak Scale. (2015, background): “(This is in addition to the oscillating EDM induced by the axion in this scenario [25].”
• In wino veritas? Indirect searches shed light on neutralino dark matter (2013, background): “In this scenario, detection of axion dark matter might be achieved through measurements of the rapidly oscillating neutron EDM it induces [108–110].”
• New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles (2018, background): “The so-called CASPEr-Electric [593], consists of a more feasible version of the cold-molecule detector of [597] to detect the oscillating electric dipole moments of nuclei.”
• Search for Axionlike Dark Matter through Nuclear Spin Precession in Electric and Magnetic Fields (2017, background): “Recently, however, it has been proposed to search for the interactions of the coherently oscillating axion DM field with gluons and fermions, which can induce oscillating electric dipole moments (EDMs) of nucleons [30] and atoms [31–33], and anomalous spin-precession effects [31,34,35].”
• Radio for hidden-photon dark matter detection (2014, background): “And in fact they search not just for the QCD axion but for a generic scalar with any of the couplings allowed for a pseudo-Goldstone boson [8, 9].”
• Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules (2017, background): “tive electric field (Leggett, 1978; Mukhamedjanov and Sushkov, 2005), a phenomenon analogous to the large internal effective electric fields experienced by electrons in polar molecules (Graham and Rajendran, 2011).”