SpaceQ -- Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter with Space Quantum Sensors

Abstract

Recent advances in quantum sensors, including atomic clocks, enable searches for a broad range of dark matter candidates. The question of the dark matter distribution in the Solar system critically affects the reach of dark matter direct detection experiments. Partly motivated by the NASA Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC), we show that space quantum sensors present new opportunities for ultralight dark matter searches, especially for dark matter states bound to the Sun. We show that space quantum sensors can probe unexplored parameter space of ultralight dark matter, covering theoretical relaxion targets motivated by naturalness and Higgs mixing. If an atomic clock were able to make measurements on the interior of the solar system, it could probe this highly sensitive region directly and set very strong constraints on the existence of such a bound-state halo in our solar system. We present sensitivity projections for space-based probes of ultralight dark matter which couples to electron, photon, and gluon fields, based on current and future atomic, molecular, and nuclear clocks.

13 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (21)

• Improved limits on the coupling of ultralight bosonic dark matter to photons from optical atomic clock comparisons
• Opportunities for Fundamental Physics Research with Radioactive Molecules
• The Phenomenology of Quadratically Coupled Ultra Light Dark Matter
• Novel constraints on fifth forces and ultralight dark sector with asteroidal data
• Ultralight Dark Matter Search with Space-Time Separated Atomic Clocks and Cavities
• Cosmologically Varying Kinetic Mixing
• Demonstration of a programmable optical lattice atom interferometer
• Constraints on fifth forces and ultralight dark matter from OSIRIS-REx target asteroid Bennu
• Long-range interacting Stark many-body probes with Super-Heisenberg precision
• Searches for exotic spin-dependent interactions with spin sensors
• New Constraints on Dark Matter and Cosmic Neutrino Profiles through Gravity
• Scalar dark matter vortex stabilization with black holes
• Constraints on the Variation of Physical Constants, Equivalence Principle Violation, and a Fifth Force from Atomic Experiments
• Traversable Wormholes Sourced by Dark Matter in Loop Quantum Cosmology
• Vector Atom Accelerometry in an Optical Lattice
• Probing the Solar System for Dark Matter Using the Sagnac Effect
• Demonstration of Real-Time Precision Optical Time Synchronization in a True Three-Node Architecture
• Quantum Sensing Using Atomic Clocks for Nuclear and Particle Physics
• Unveiling Orbital Chaos: The Wild Heart of Fuzzy Dark Matter Structures
• Demonstration that Differential Length Changes of Optical Cavities are a Sensitive Probe for Ultralight Dark Matter
• Probing Bosonic Overdensities with Optomechanical Sensing