Prospects of nuclear-coupled-dark-matter detection via correlation spectroscopy of I${}_2^{+}$ and Ca${}^{+}$

Abstract

The nature of dark matter (DM) and its interaction with the Standard Model (SM) is one of the biggest open questions in physics nowadays. The vast majority of theoretically-motivated Ultralight-DM (ULDM) models predict that ULDM couples dominantly to the SM strong/nuclear sector. This coupling leads to oscillations of nuclear parameters that are detectable by comparing clocks with different sensitivities to these nature's constants. Vibrational transitions of molecular clocks are more sensitive to a change in the nuclear parameters than the electronic transitions of atomic clocks. Here, we propose the iodine molecular ion, I${}_2^{+}$, as a sensitive detector for such a class of ULDM models. The iodine's dense spectrum allows us to match its transition frequency to that of an optical atomic clock (Ca${}^{+}$) and perform correlation spectroscopy between the two clock species. With this technique, we project a few-orders-of-magnitude improvement over the most sensitive clock comparisons performed to date. We also briefly consider the robustness of the corresponding "Earth-bound" under modifications of the $Z_N$-QCD axion model.

10 pages, 4 figures; v2 matches version published in PRD

References in corpus (77)

• Search for New Physics with Atoms and Molecules
• Mass models of the Milky Way
• Test of the Equivalence Principle Using a Rotating Torsion Balance
• The QCD axion, precisely
• Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Single-Ion Atomic Clock with $3\times 10^{-18}$ Systematic Uncertainty
• The landscape of QCD axion models
• FLAG Review 2021
• Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
• Searching for dilaton dark matter with atomic clocks
• The chiral representation of the $\pi N$ scattering amplitude and the pion-nucleon sigma term
• The MICROSCOPE mission: first results of a space test of the Equivalence Principle
• Milky Way Satellite Census. III. Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies
• Equivalence Principle Violations and Couplings of a Light Dilaton
• Can dark matter induce cosmological evolution of the fundamental constants of Nature?
• Short-range tests of the equivalence principle
• The chiral effective pion-nucleon Lagrangian of order p^4
• Searching for an oscillating massive scalar field as a dark matter candidate using atomic hyperfine frequency comparisons
• Improved axion emissivity from a supernova via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung
• Precision Metrology Meets Cosmology: Improved Constraints on Ultralight Dark Matter from Atom-Cavity Frequency Comparisons
• Enhanced sensitivity to variation of the fine structure constant and m_p/m_e in diatomic molecules
• MICROSCOPE mission: final results of the test of the Equivalence Principle
• Matching pion-nucleon Roy-Steiner equations to chiral perturbation theory
• Improved limits for violations of local position invariance from atomic clock comparisons
• Preparation and coherent manipulation of pure quantum states of a single molecular ion
• Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar dark matter
• Enhanced sensitivity to variation of $m_e/m_p$ in molecular spectra
• Non-destructive state detection for quantum logic spectroscopy of molecular ions
• Search for axion-like dark matter through nuclear spin precession in electric and magnetic fields
• Is there a supernova bound on axions?
• Dependence of nuclear magnetic moments on quark masses and limits on temporal variation of fundamental constants from atomic clock experiments
• Coherent laser spectroscopy of highly charged ions using quantum logic
• Probing axions with neutron star inspirals and other stellar processes
• Detecting dark matter waves with precision measurement tools
• New limits on variation of the fine-structure constant using atomic dysprosium
• Solving the Hierarchy Problem Discretely
• A long-lived Zeeman trapped-ion qubit
• Astrophysical Axion Bounds: The 2024 Edition
• Phenomenology of the Equivalence Principle with Light Scalars
• Sub-eV scalar dark matter through the super-renormalizable Higgs portal
• Molecular lattice clock with long vibrational coherence
• Exploring New Physics with O(keV) Electron Recoils in Direct Detection Experiments
• Quantum non-demolition state detection and spectroscopy of single trapped molecules
• Experimental constraint on axion-like particle coupling over seven orders of magnitude in mass
• Exploring the robustness of stellar cooling constraints on light particles
• Constraining Axion Dark Matter with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Search for ultralight dark matter from long-term frequency comparisons of optical and microwave atomic clocks
• Enhanced Sensitivity to Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter in the Spectra of the Linear Radical SrOH
• Coherent relaxion dark matter
• Searching for Scalar Dark Matter via Coupling to Fundamental Constants with Photonic, Atomic and Mechanical Oscillators
• Quantum coherence between two atoms beyond Q=10^15
• Precision measurement of atomic isotope shifts using a two-isotope entangled state
• Probing the Relaxed Relaxion at the Luminosity and Precision Frontiers
• Measurement of the variation of electron-to-proton mass ratio using ultracold molecules produced from laser-cooled atoms
• Search for oscillations of fundamental constants using molecular spectroscopy
• Precision spectroscopy with two correlated atoms
• The Phenomenology of Quadratically Coupled Ultra Light Dark Matter
• Search for ultralight dark matter with spectroscopy of radio-frequency atomic transitions
• Constraining Rapidly Oscillating Scalar Dark Matter Using Dynamic Decoupling
• State-selected ion-molecule reactions with Coulomb-crystallized molecular ions in traps
• Strongly aligned molecules inside helium droplets in the near-adiabatic regime
• Lifetime-Limited Interrogation of Two Independent ${}^{27}{\text{Al}}^{+}$ Clocks Using Correlation Spectroscopy
• A terahertz vibrational molecular clock with systematic uncertainty at the $10^{-14}$ level
• Precision measurements on the ${}^{138}$Ba${}^{+}$ $6s^2{S}_{1/2}-5d^2{D}_{5/2}$ clock transition
• New Limit on Axion-Like Dark Matter using Cold Neutrons
• High sensitivity to mass-ratio variation in deep molecular potentials
• Probing the relaxed relaxion and Higgs-portal with S1 & S2
• A Method for Preparation and Readout of Polyatomic Molecules in Single Quantum States
• Measurement of the branching fractions and lifetime of the $5D_{5/2}$ level of Ba${}^{+}$
• Probing an ultralight QCD axion with electromagnetic quadratic interaction
• Two-photon vibrational transitions in ${\mathrm{O}}_2^{+}$ as probes of variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio
• Search for variation of fundamental constants: Strong enhancements in $X^2\Pi$ cations of dihalogens and hydrogen halides
• Impact of axions on the Cassiopea A neutron star cooling
• From megahertz to terahertz qubits encoded in molecular ions: theoretical analysis of dipole-forbidden spectroscopic transitions in N${}_2^{+}$
• Relaxion Dark Matter from Stochastic Misalignment
• Prospect for precision quantum logic spectroscopy of vibrational overtone transitions in molecular oxygen ions
• Identical particles exchange symmetry and the electric dipole moment in molecules

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Constraining Light QCD Axions with Isolated Neutron Star Cooling
• Searching for dark matter with the Th-229 nuclear lineshape from laser spectroscopy
• On the sensitivity of nuclear clocks to new physics
• Weak nuclear decays deep-underground as a probe of axion dark matter
• Quantum Sensing Using Atomic Clocks for Nuclear and Particle Physics