Collaborative Research (RUI): Search for Exotic Transient Spin-dependent Signals from Ultralight Dark Matter Fields

大量的天体物理学和宇宙学测量已经确定，宇宙中85%以上的物质是暗物质。了解暗物质的本质是现代物理学面临的最大挑战之一，对理解宇宙的起源和结构至关重要。一种理论上合理的可能性是，暗物质由超轻场组成，对应于质量非常低的粒子。与暗物质相关的质能主要储存在暗物质场的振荡或局部缺陷中。如果暗物质以这种形式存在，那么地球探测器将在地球穿过暗物质团块或像镍这样的磁化材料中发现的一种域壁时，见证短暂的事件，而不是被均匀的暗物质通量所笼罩。该合同为运行、扩展和显著升级地理上分离的、时间同步的原子磁力计网络提供支持，以搜索预示新物理学的相关瞬态信号。这两所大学都有很强的多元化历史，科罗拉多州立大学东湾分校是美国大陆最多元化的大学，奥伯林学院是第一所定期招收非裔美国学生和女性的大学。拟议中的研究项目是吸引和留住女性和未被充分代表的少数族裔物理学家的先锋。寻找奇异物理的全球光磁力计网络（GNOME）对各种奇异粒子和场的核和电子自旋耦合非常敏感。到目前为止，还没有对瞬态自旋相关相互作用进行过这样的研究，这使得这项研究成为研究新物理学的一个全新的实验窗口。除了在赠款的第一年使用现有GNOME进行专门的长期搜索外，GNOME还将进行升级，以显着提高其灵敏度。

A host of astrophysical and cosmological measurements have conclusively established that over 85% of all matter in the Universe is dark matter. Understanding the nature of dark matter is one of the greatest challenges of modern physics and is of paramount importance in understanding the origin and structure of the universe. A theoretically well-motivated possibility is that the dark matter consists of ultralight fields, corresponding to particles of very low mass. The mass-energy associated with dark matter is then primarily stored in oscillations of the dark matter field or in localized defects. If the dark matter takes this form, then instead of being bathed in a uniform dark matter flux, terrestrial detectors will witness transient events when the Earth passes through a dark matter clump or a kind of domain wall such as is found in a magnetized material such as nickel. This award provides support to operate, expand, and significantly upgrade a network of geographically separated, time-synchronized atomic magnetometers to search for correlated transient signals heralding new physics.Both institutions have a strong history of diversity, with CSU - East Bay being the most diverse university in the continental United States and Oberlin College being the first college to admit African American students and women in a co-educational setting on a regular basis. The proposed research programs are at the vanguard of attracting and retaining women and underrepresented minority physicists.The Global Network of Optical Magnetometers to search for Exotic physics (GNOME) is sensitive to nuclear and electron spin couplings to various exotic particles and fields. To date, no such search for transient spin-dependent interactions has ever been carried out, making the proposed research a completely novel experimental window on new physics. In addition to carrying out a dedicated long-term search using the existing GNOME during the first year of the grant, the GNOME will be upgraded in order to dramatically improve its sensitivity.