Constraining Rapidly Oscillating Scalar Dark Matter Using Dynamic Decoupling

Shahaf Aharony; Nitzan Akerman; Roee Ozeri; Gilad Perez; Inbar Savoray; Ravid Shaniv

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075017

Constraining Rapidly Oscillating Scalar Dark Matter Using Dynamic Decoupling

Shahaf Aharony, Nitzan Akerman, Roee Ozeri^*, Gilad Perez^*, Inbar Savoray, Ravid Shaniv

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for detection of a light scalar dark matter (DM) field through probing temporal oscillations of fundamental constants in an atomic optical transition. Utilizing the quantum information notion of dynamic decoupling (DD) in a tabletop setting, we are able to obtain model-independent bounds on variations of α and me at frequencies up to the MHz scale. We interpret our results to constrain the parameter space of light scalar DM field models. We consider the generic case, where the couplings of the DM field to the photon and the electron are independent, as well as the case of a relaxion DM model, including the scenario of a DM boson star centered around Earth. Given the particular nature of DD, allowing one to directly observe the oscillatory behavior of coherent DM and considering future experimental improvements, we conclude that our proposed method could be complimentary to, and possibly competitive with, gravitational probes of light scalar DM.

Original language	English
Article number	075017
Number of pages	8
Journal	Physical review. D
Volume	103
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075017
Publication status	Published - Apr 2021

Funding

We would like to acknowledge early discussions on these ideas with A. Derevianko, S. Kolkowitz, and D. Budker. We thank D. Budker and Y. Nir for comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to J. A. Eby and H. Kim for the assistance and the advice regarding relaxion stars. R. O. and R. S. acknowledge support by the Crown Photonics Center, ICORE-Israeli excellence center Circle of Light, The Israeli Science Foundation, the Israeli Ministry of Science Technology and Space and the European Research Council (consolidator grant 616919-Ionology). The work of G. P. is supported by grants from the BSF, ERC, ISF; the work of R. O. and G. P. is jointly support by the Minerva Foundation, the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF), and the Serge Research Award. I. S. is supported by a fellowship from the Ariane de Rothschild Women Doctoral Program.

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AU - Ozeri, Roee

AU - Perez, Gilad

AU - Savoray, Inbar

AU - Shaniv, Ravid

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Constraining Rapidly Oscillating Scalar Dark Matter Using Dynamic Decoupling

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