Searching for dilaton dark matter with atomic clocks
Searching for dilaton dark matter with atomic clocks
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevd.91.015015
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发表时间：
2015-01-21
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Van Tilburg, Ken
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Arvanitaki, Asimina;Huang, Junwu;Van Tilburg, Ken
我们提出了一个寻找具有膨胀相互作用的超轻标量暗物质(DM)的实验。在CP破坏的情况下，膨胀子、模粒子和轴子类粒子都可以发生这样的耦合。超光扩张子Dm作为背景场，可以在标准模型参数中引起微小但相干的振荡，如精细结构常数和质子电子质量比。这些微小的变化可以通过原子钟的精确频率比较来检测到。我们的实验将当前对基本常数漂移的搜索扩展到动机良好的高频区域。我们建议的装置可以探测轻于10(-15)eV的标量，具有发现弱至引力强度10(-11)倍的膨胀耦合的潜力，将电流等效原理界限提高了高达8个数量级。我们指出了未来光学时钟和核时钟的潜在灵敏度增强，以及引力波探测器中可能的特征。最后，我们讨论了超轻标量DM的宇宙学约束和天体物理暗示，并表明它们是对我们建议的实验室实验所能获得的参数范围的补充和兼容。
We propose an experiment to search for ultralight scalar dark matter (DM) with dilatonic interactions. Such couplings can arise for the dilaton as well as for moduli and axion-like particles in the presence of CP violation. Ultralight dilaton DM acts as a background field that can cause tiny but coherent oscillations in Standard Model parameters such as the fine-structure constant and the proton-electron mass ratio. These minute variations can be detected through precise frequency comparisons of atomic clocks. Our experiment extends current searches for drifts in fundamental constants to the well-motivated high-frequency regime. Our proposed setups can probe scalars lighter than 10(-15) eV with a discovery potential of dilatonic couplings as weak as 10(-11) times the strength of gravity, improving current equivalence principle bounds by up to 8 orders of magnitude. We point out potential 10(4) sensitivity enhancements with future optical and nuclear clocks, as well as possible signatures in gravitational-wave detectors. Finally, we discuss cosmological constraints and astrophysical hints of ultralight scalar DM, and show they are complimentary to and compatible with the parameter range accessible to our proposed laboratory experiments.