Developing new tools to search for dark matter

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Research was undertaken on the possibility of detecting relativistic bosonic waves that originate from sources which are initially non-relativistic. It was found that terrestrial experiments can in principle be sensitive to such relativistic waves even when the astrophysical sources are located quite far away from Earth. However, depending on the model of bosons considered, detection on Earth may be complicated due to screening of such bosonic waves close to Earth's surface. In this case, significantly more sensitive approaches would involve the use of space-based detectors. The use of networks of detectors containing spatially-separated nodes would allow for unambiguous confirmation of extra-terrestrial signals from passing relativistic bosonic waves and the location of the sources.Further research was undertaken to appraise the feasibility of networks of quantum sensors (including ground- and space-based networks) in searches for new physics. It was concluded that such networks offer significant opportunities in searches for dark matter and the broader dark sector. For example, the use of a network of atomic clocks can boost the sensitivity to dark matter compared with a single atomic-clock node, as well as provide valuable information about the spatio-temporal correlation function. Space-based atomic clocks, e.g. on-board the International Space Station or GPS satellites, can provide an enormous advantage over analogous experiments on Earth in models of dark scalar fields that exhibit screening near Earth's surface.