Laboratory Constraints on the Neutron-Spin Coupling of feV-scale Axions

Abstract

Ultralight axion-like particles can contribute to the dark matter near the Sun, leading to a distinct, stochastic signature in terrestrial experiments. We search for such particles through their neutron-spin coupling by re-analyzing approximately 40 days of data from a K-${}^3$He co-magnetometer with a new frequency-domain likelihood-based formalism that properly accounts for stochastic effects over all axion coherence times relative to the experimental time span. Assuming that axions make up all of the dark matter in the Sun's vicinity, we find a median 95% upper limit on the neutron-spin coupling of $2.4\times 10^{-10}$ GeV${}^{-1}$ for axion masses from 0.4 to 4 feV, which is about five orders of magnitude more stringent than previous laboratory bounds in that mass range. Although several peaks in the experiment's magnetic power spectrum suggest the rejection of a white-noise null hypothesis, further analysis of their lineshapes yields no positive evidence for a dark matter axion.

25 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (14)

• A direct empirical proof of the existence of dark matter
• Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law below the Dark-Energy Length Scale
• The Milky Way's circular velocity curve between 4 and 14 kpc from APOGEE data
• Particle Physics Implications of a Recent Test of the Gravitational Inverse Square Law
• Search for axion-like dark matter through nuclear spin precession in electric and magnetic fields
• Search for axion-like dark matter with spin-based amplifiers
• The search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm
• Discovery of a Ringlike Dark Matter Structure in the Core of the Galaxy Cluster Cl 0024+17
• Search for axionlike dark matter with a liquid-state nuclear spin comagnetometer
• Upper Limit on the QCD Axion Mass from Isolated Neutron Star Cooling
• NASDUCK: New Constraints on Axion-like Dark Matter from Floquet Quantum Detector
• Stellar Evolution confronts Axion Models
• Spectral signatures of axionlike dark matter
• Stochastic Properties of Ultralight Scalar Field Gradients

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Constraints on axion-like dark matter from a SERF comagnetometer
• Search for ultralight dark matter with spectroscopy of radio-frequency atomic transitions
• Spin-dependent exotic interactions
• Dark Matter Search with a Resonantly-Coupled Hybrid Spin System
• On the Sensitivity of Spin-Precession Axion Experiments
• Probing an ultralight QCD axion with electromagnetic quadratic interaction
• Axion wind detection with the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3
• Slaying Axion-Like Particles via Gravitational Waves and Primordial Black Holes from Supercooled Phase Transition
• Ultralight dark matter detection with levitated ferromagnets
• Searches for exotic spin-dependent interactions with spin sensors
• Inter-species spin-noise correlations in hot atomic vapors
• New Technologies for Axion and Dark Photon Searches
• Additive Manufacturing of functionalised atomic vapour cells for next-generation quantum technologies
• The HIBEAM Instrument at the European Spallation Source
• A Ramsey Neutron-Beam Experiment to Search for Ultralight Axion Dark Matter at the ESS
• Pulsed Dual-axis Alkali-metal-noble-gas Comagnetometer
• Bias-Free Estimation of Signals on Top of Unknown Backgrounds
• An atomic probe of dark matter differential interactions with elementary particles
• Search for Axionlike Dark Matter Using Liquid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• The statistics and sensitivity of axion wind detection with the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3
• Axion detection via superfluid ${}^3$He ferromagnetic phase and quantum measurement techniques
• Ytterbium atom interferometry for dark matter searches
• Axion-Like Particle Detection in Alkali-Noble-Gas Haloscopes
• Flavor-changing axions and Dirac neutrino masses