Models of ultra-heavy dark matter visible to macroscopic mechanical sensing arrays

Abstract

In recent years, the sensitivity of opto-mechanical force sensors has improved leading to increased interest in using these devices as particle detectors. In this study we consider scenarios where dark matter with mass close to the Planck scale may be probed by a large array of opto-mechanical accelerometers. We motivate a macroscopic mechanical search for ultra-heavy dark matter, exemplified by the efforts of the Windchime collaboration, by providing a survey of the model space that would be visible to such a search. We consider two classes of models, one that invokes a new long-range unscreened force and another that is only gravitationally interacting. We identify significant regions of well-motivated, potentially visible parameter space for versatile models such as Q-balls, composite dark matter, relics of gravitational singularities, and gravitationally produced ultra-heavy particles.

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