Dark Matter Search with Atomic Clocks Onboard GPS Satellites and Networks of Precision Measurement Devices

利用 GPS 卫星和精密测量设备网络上的原子钟搜索暗物质

• 批准号: 1806672
• 负责人: Andrei Derevianko
• 金额: $ 44万
• 依托单位: Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1806672&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dark; Matter; Search; Atomic; Clocks

This project will help answer the question, "What is the nature of dark matter?" Dark matter is invisible, yet it is known to exist. Cosmological observations indicate that dark matter makes up 85% of all matter in the Universe yet its composition remains a mystery. Although the astronomical evidence of dark matter is overwhelming, so far nobody has detected it in the laboratory, and physicists know almost nothing about it. Many theoretical models for dark matter composition have been put forward. It is important to either confirm or rule out such models, particularly if this can be done cost-effectively. This project will use the existing Global Positioning System (GPS) as a planet-sized dark matter detector. This team will examine nearly two decades of publicly available archival data from atomic clocks onboard GPS satellites and search for transient effects of dark matter clumps on time kept by the GPS atomic clocks. Since the GPS system and its network of atomic clocks is already deployed, this is a relatively low-budget project with high potential payoff. If such dark matter clumps exist and this project finds them, this would have an impact on the very foundations of cosmology and elementary particle physics. On the other hand, if dark matter clumps do not exist, it would be valuable to be able to rule this out categorically, to help science focus on more likely explanations. Either way, such investigations promote the progress of science. This research will also contribute to improvements in the analysis of GPS data, and this can provide a benefit for many other applications such as geodesy that are also of value to society. Ambitious programs have been searching for dark matter (DM) in the form of heavy particles with no conclusive evidence, yet DM could also arise from ultralight quantum fields that form macroscopic objects. Such objects are predicted to cause apparent variations of fundamental constants, leading to transient shifts in atomic energy levels. In its current project, the GPS.DM project team uses the orbiting network of atomic clocks on board GPS satellites as a 50,000-km-aperture detector to search for such DM objects. As the Earth moves through the galactic DM halo, interactions with DM could cause a sequence of atomic clock perturbations that propagate through the satellite constellation at galactic velocities. Mining 16 years of archival data, the current project of GPS.DM finds no evidence for DM in the form of domain walls at current sensitivity levels, thereby improving the limits on certain quadratic scalar couplings by several orders of magnitude. This project will expand the search to several different classes of extended DM objects and to dramatically improve data mining techniques. These techniques are anticipated to extend the discovery reach of the GPS dark matter detector by four orders of magnitude in the DM candidate mass parameter space and by two orders of magnitude in sensitivity.This project is jointly supported by the Particle Astrophysics Experiment program and the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Experiment program. Both programs are in the Division of Physics in the NSF Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将有助于回答“暗物质的本质是什么？”这个问题。 暗物质是看不见的，但已知它的存在。宇宙学观测表明，暗物质占宇宙所有物质的 85%，但其成分仍然是个谜。尽管暗物质的天文学证据是压倒性的，但迄今为止还没有人在实验室中检测到它，物理学家对它几乎一无所知。已经提出了许多暗物质组成的理论模型。确认或排除此类模型非常重要，特别是如果可以经济有效地做到这一点。该项目将使用现有的全球定位系统（GPS）作为行星大小的暗物质探测器。该团队将检查近二十年公开的 GPS 卫星原子钟档案数据，并寻找暗物质团块对 GPS 原子钟计时的瞬态影响。由于 GPS 系统及其原子钟网络已经部署，这是一个预算相对较低但潜在回报较高的项目。 如果这种暗物质团块存在并且该项目找到了它们，这将对宇宙学和基本粒子物理学的基础产生影响。另一方面，如果暗物质团块不存在，那么能够明确排除这一点将很有价值，以帮助科学关注更可能的解释。无论哪种方式，此类研究都促进了科学的进步。 这项研究还将有助于改进 GPS 数据的分析，这可以为许多其他应用带来好处，例如大地测量学，这些应用也对社会有价值。 雄心勃勃的计划一直在寻找重粒子形式的暗物质（DM），但没有确凿的证据，但暗物质也可能来自形成宏观物体的超轻量子场。预计此类物体会引起基本常数的明显变化，从而导致原子能级的瞬时变化。 在当前的项目中，GPS.DM 项目团队使用 GPS 卫星上的原子钟轨道网络作为 50,000 公里孔径探测器来搜索此类 DM 物体。 当地球穿过银河 DM 晕时，与 DM 的相互作用可能会导致一系列原子钟扰动，这些扰动以银河速度通过卫星星座传播。 GPS.DM 当前项目挖掘了 16 年的档案数据，在当前灵敏度水平下没有发现以磁畴壁形式存在 DM 的证据，从而将某些二次标量耦合的限制提高了几个数量级。 该项目将搜索扩展到几个不同类别的扩展 DM 对象，并显着改进数据挖掘技术。这些技术预计将在 DM 候选质量参数空间中将 GPS 暗物质探测器的发现范围扩大四个数量级，并将灵敏度扩大两个数量级。该项目由粒子天体物理实验计划和原子、分子和光学物理实验计划联合支持。 这两个项目均属于 NSF 数学和物理科学理事会的物理部门。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Signal-to-noise-ratio and maximum-signal-to-noise-ratio detection statistics in template-bank searches for exotic physics transients with networks of quantum sensors

• DOI: 10.1103/physreva.105.013106
• 发表时间: 2021-09
• 期刊: Physical Review A
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: T. Daykin;Chris Ellis;A. Derevianko

AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space

• DOI: 10.1140/epjqt/s40507-020-0080-0
• 发表时间: 2020-03-04
• 期刊: EPJ QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY
• 影响因子: 5.3
• 作者: El-Neaj, Yousef Abou;Alpigiani, Cristiano;Zupan, Jure
• 通讯作者: Zupan, Jure

Fundamental physics with a state-of-the-art optical clock in space

• DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/ac7df9
• 发表时间: 2022-10-01
• 期刊: QUANTUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• 影响因子: 6.7
• 作者: Derevianko, Andrei;Gibble, Kurt;Yu, Nan
• 通讯作者: Yu, Nan

Quantum sensor networks as exotic field telescopes for multi-messenger astronomy

• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01242-7
• 发表时间: 2020-11-02
• 期刊: NATURE ASTRONOMY
• 影响因子: 14.1
• 作者: Dailey, Conner;Bradley, Colin;Derevianko, Andrei
• 通讯作者: Derevianko, Andrei

SAGE: A proposal for a space atomic gravity explorer

• DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2019-100324-6
• 发表时间: 2019-07
• 期刊: The European Physical Journal D
• 作者: G. Tino;A. Bassi;Giuseppe Bianco;K. Bongs;P. Bouyer;L. Cacciapuoti;S. Capozziello;Xuzong Chen