Searching for dark photon dark matter from terrestrial magnetic fields

Abstract

We present a novel search for dark photon dark matter (DM) using terrestrial magnetic field measurements at frequencies below 100 Hz. Coherently oscillating dark photon DM can induce a monochromatic magnetic field via kinetic mixing with ordinary photons. Notably, for dark photon masses $m_{A^{\prime }}$ around $3\times 10^{-14}$ eV, the signal can be resonantly amplified within a cavity formed by the Earth's surface and the ionosphere. We compute the expected signal incorporating the effect of atmospheric conductivity, and derive new upper limits on the kinetic mixing parameter $\epsilon$ from long-term geomagnetic data. These limits improve upon previous ground-based constraints in the mass range of $1\times 10^{-15}$ eV $\lesssim m_{A^{\prime }}\lesssim 2\times 10^{-13}$ eV.

8 pages, 3 figures

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