High-intensity neutron beams, such as those available at the European Spallation Source (ESS), provide new opportunities for fundamental discoveries. Here, we discuss a novel Ramsey neutron-beam experiment to search for ultralight axion dark matter through its coupling to neutron spins, which would cause the neutron spins to rotate about the velocity of the neutrons relative to the dark matter halo. We estimate that experiments at the HIBEAM beamline with a 50 m free flight path at the ESS can improve the sensitivity to the axion-neutron coupling compared to the current best laboratory limits by up to 2–3 orders of magnitude over the axion mass range . Published by the American Physical Society2024
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026
Beehive haloscope for high-mass axion dark matter
We propose a new haloscope geometry that can arbitrarily increase the resonator volume for a given target axion mass. This geometry consists of closely packed, overlapping coaxial cavities operating as a single resonator. While the resonant frequency is still determined by the dimensions of the individual “cells,” the strong interactions between the cells encourage the entire “beehive” to oscillate in phase, a phenomenon expected of tightly coupled harmonic oscillators. This synchronization behavior allows the construction of a singly connected large volume resonator at high frequency by simply increasing the number of the cells. Using direct numerical simulations, we verify the existence of a global eigenmode that has a high (40%) form factor in a 169-element beehive resonator. The resonant frequency of the eigenmode is tunable by moving the center rods laterally in unison. The form factor is very tolerant to dimensional deviations and misalignment as a result of mode hybridization due to strong coupling. The beehive haloscope inherits many appealing properties from the conventional coaxial cavity: a high quality factor, compatibility with a solenoid magnet, and ease of fabrication, tuning, and coupling. We argue that this geometry is an excellent candidate for high-mass axion searches covering the post-inflationary parameter space ( ). Published by the American Physical Society2025
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2209576
- PAR ID:
- 10600986
- Publisher / Repository:
- APS
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review D
- Volume:
- 111
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2470-0010
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Nonrelativistic axions can be efficiently produced in the polar caps of pulsars, resulting in the formation of a dense cloud of gravitationally bound axions. Here, we investigate the interplay between such an axion cloud and the electrodynamics in the pulsar magnetosphere, focusing specifically on the dynamics in the polar caps, where the impact of the axion cloud is expected to be most pronounced. For sufficiently light axions , we show that the axion cloud can occasionally screen the local electric field responsible for particle acceleration and pair production, inducing a periodic nulling of the pulsar’s intrinsic radio emission. At larger axion masses, the small-scale fluctuations in the axion field tend to suppress the backreaction of the axion on the electrodynamics; however, we point out that the incoherent oscillations of the axion in short-lived regions of vacuum near the neutron star surface can produce a narrow radio line, which provides a complementary source of radio emission to the plasma-resonant emission processes identified in previous work. While this Letter focuses on the leading order correction to pair production in the magnetosphere, we speculate that there can exist dramatic deviations in the electrodynamics of these systems when the axion backreaction becomes nonlinear. Published by the American Physical Society2024more » « less
-
We provide a comprehensive comparison of linear amplifiers and microwave photon counters in axion dark matter experiments. The study is done assuming a range of realistic operating conditions and detector parameters, over the frequency range between 1 and 30 GHz. As expected, photon counters are found to be advantageous under low background, at high frequencies ( ), they can be implemented with robust wide-frequency tuning or a very low dark count rate. Additional noteworthy observations emerging from this study include: (1) an expanded applicability of off-resonance photon background reduction, including the single-quadrature state squeezing, for scan rate enhancements; (2) a much broader appeal for operating the haloscope resonators in the overcoupling regime, up to ; (3) the need for a detailed investigation into the cryogenic and electromagnetic conditions inside haloscope cavities to lower the photon temperature for future experiments; (4) the necessity to develop a distributed network of coupling ports in high-volume axion haloscopes to utilize these potential gains in the scan rate. Published by the American Physical Society2025more » « less
-
We propose using highly excited cyclotron states of a trapped electron to detect meV axion and dark-photon dark matter, marking a significant improvement over our previous proposal and demonstration [One-electron quantum cyclotron as a milli-ev dark-photon detector, .]. When the axion mass matches the cyclotron frequency , the cyclotron state is resonantly excited, with a transition probability proportional to its initial quantum number, . The sensitivity is enhanced by taking . By optimizing key experimental parameters, we minimize the required averaging time for cyclotron detection to s, permitting detection of such a highly excited state before its decay. An open–end-cap trap design enables the external photon signal to be directed into the trap, rendering our background-free detector compatible with large focusing cavities, such as the BREAD proposal, while capitalizing on their strong magnetic fields. Furthermore, the axion conversion rate can be coherently enhanced by incorporating layers of dielectrics with alternating refractive indices within the cavity. Collectively, these optimizations enable us to probe the QCD axion parameter space from 0.1 to 2.3 meV (25–560 GHz), covering a substantial portion of the predicted postinflationary QCD axion mass range. This sensitivity corresponds to probing the kinetic mixing parameter of the dark photon down to . Published by the American Physical Society2025more » « less
-
Metric perturbations induced by ultralight dark matter (ULDM) fields have long been identified as a potential target for pulsar timing array (PTA) observations. Previous works have focused on the coherent oscillation of metric perturbations at the characteristic frequency set by the ULDM mass. In this work, we show that ULDM fields source low-frequency stochastic metric fluctuations and that these low-frequency fluctuations can produce distinctive detectable signals in PTA data. Using the NANOGrav 12.5-yr dataset and synthetic datasets mimicking present and future PTA capabilities, we show that the current and future PTA observations provide the strongest probe of ULDM density within the Solar System for masses in the range of . Published by the American Physical Society2024more » « less
An official website of the United States government
