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，宇宙中超过85%的物质是暗物质。了解暗物质的本质是现代物理学最大的挑战之一，对于了解宇宙的起源和结构至关重要。一个理论上有充分动机的可能性是，暗物质由超轻场组成，对应于非常低质量的粒子。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。如果暗物质采取这种形式，那么地球探测器将不会沐浴在均匀的暗物质通量中，而是在地球穿过暗物质团块或一种磁化材料（如镍）中发现的畴壁时见证瞬态事件。该奖项为运营、扩展和显著升级地理上分离的时间同步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。这两个机构都有丰富的多样性历史，CSU -东湾是美国大陆最多样化的大学，奥伯林学院是第一所招收非裔美国学生和女性的大学，定期举办教育活动。拟议的研究计划是吸引和留住妇女和代表性不足的少数民族物理学家的先锋。全球光学磁强计网络搜索外来物理（GNOME）是敏感的核和电子自旋耦合到各种外来粒子和场。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的GNOME进行专门的长期搜索外，GNOME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.