Curl up with a good B: detecting ultralight dark matter with differential magnetometry

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics 2024-01, Vol.2024 (1), p.178-26, Article 178
• Main Authors: Bloch, Itay M., Kalia, Saarik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Axions and ALPs; Background noise; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Dark matter; Earth surface; Elementary Particles; Environmental effects; Frequency ranges; Magnetic measurement; Photons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; Robustness; Schumann resonances; Specific BSM Phenomenology; String Theory
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP01(2024)178

A bstract Ultralight dark matter (such as kinetically mixed dark-photon dark matter or axionlike dark matter) can source an oscillating magnetic-field signal at the Earth’s surface, which can be measured by a synchronized array of ground-based magnetometers. The global signal of ultralight dark matter can be robustly predicted for low masses, when the wavelength of the dark matter is larger than the radius of the Earth, λ DM ≫ R . However, at higher masses, environmental effects, such as the Schumann resonances, can become relevant, making the global magnetic-field signal B difficult to reliably model. In this work, we show that ∇ × B is robust to global environmental details, and instead only depends on the local dark matter amplitude. We therefore propose to measure the local curl of the magnetic field at the Earth’s surface, as a means for detecting ultralight dark matter with λ DM ≲ R . As this measurement requires vertical gradients, it can be done near a hill/mountain. Our measurement scheme not only allows for a robust prediction, but also acts as a background rejection scheme for external noise sources. We show that our technique can be the most sensitive terrestrial probe of dark-photon dark matter for frequencies 10 Hz ≤ f A ′ ≤ 1 kHz (corresponding to masses 4 × 10 − 14 eV ≤ m A ′ ≤ 4 × 10 − 12 eV). It can also achieve sensitivities to axionlike dark matter comparabe to the CAST helioscope, in the same frequency range.