On the Sensitivity of Spin-Precession Axion Experiments

Abstract

A leading direction in the hunt for axion dark matter is to search for its influence on nuclear spins. The detection scheme involves polarizing a sample of nuclei within a strong static magnetic field and then looking for a spin precession induced by the oscillating axion field. We study the axion signal and background contributions that arise in such experiments (a prominent example being CASPEr), finding key differences with the existing literature. Most importantly, in the limit where the transverse spin-relaxation time of the material is the largest timescale of the problem, we show that the induced signal continues to grow even beyond the coherence time of the axion field. As a result, we find that spin-precession instruments are much more sensitive than what has been previously estimated in a sizable range of axion masses, with sensitivity improvement of up to a factor of 100 at an axion mass of 100 neV using a Xenon-129 sample. This improves the detection prospects for the QCD axion, and we estimate the experimental requirements to reach this motivated target. Our results apply to both the axion electric and magnetic dipole moment operators.

15 pages, 2 figures; updated to match published version

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter through an Accelerated Resonant Search
• A Quantum Description of Wave Dark Matter
• Nuclear Spin Metrology with Nitrogen Vacancy Center in Diamond for Axion Dark Matter Detection
• New Technologies for Axion and Dark Photon Searches
• Axion Bounds from Quantum Technology
• Frequency-scanning considerations in axionlike dark matter spin-precession experiments
• 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
• Berry phase in axion physics, SM global structure, and generalized symmetries
• Cavity, lumped-circuit, and spin-based detection of axion dark matter: differences and similarities
• Induced Circular Polarization on Photons Due to Interaction with Axion-Like Particles in Rotating Magnetic Field of Neutron Stars
• Quantum Error Correction Assisted Axion Search in CMOS Spin Qubit Arrays
• Axion Production and Detection Using a Dual NMR-type Experiment
• Axion-like particles from soft supersymmetry breaking
• Cosmic Axion Background Detection Using Resonant Cavity Arrays