Papers
Topics
Authors
Recent
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash
173 tokens/sec
GPT-4o
7 tokens/sec
Gemini 2.5 Pro Pro
46 tokens/sec
o3 Pro
4 tokens/sec
GPT-4.1 Pro
38 tokens/sec
DeepSeek R1 via Azure Pro
28 tokens/sec
2000 character limit reached

Maglev for Dark Matter: Dark-photon and axion dark matter sensing with levitated superconductors (2310.18398v2)

Published 27 Oct 2023 in hep-ph, hep-ex, and quant-ph

Abstract: Ultraprecise mechanical sensors offer an exciting avenue for testing new physics. While many of these sensors are tailored to detect inertial forces, magnetically levitated (Maglev) systems are particularly interesting, in that they are also sensitive to electromagnetic forces. In this work, we propose the use of magnetically levitated superconductors to detect dark-photon and axion dark matter through their couplings to electromagnetism. Several existing laboratory experiments search for these dark-matter candidates at high frequencies, but few are sensitive to frequencies below $\mathrm{1\,kHz}$ (corresponding to dark-matter masses $m_\mathrm{DM}\lesssim10{-12}\,\mathrm{eV}$). As a mechanical resonator, magnetically levitated superconductors are sensitive to lower frequencies, and so can probe parameter space currently unexplored by laboratory experiments. Dark-photon and axion dark matter can source an oscillating magnetic field that drives the motion of a magnetically levitated superconductor. This motion is resonantly enhanced when the dark matter Compton frequency matches the levitated superconductor's trapping frequency. We outline the necessary modifications to make magnetically levitated superconductors sensitive to dark matter, including specifications for both broadband and resonant schemes. We show that in the $\mathrm{Hz}\lesssim f_\mathrm{DM}\lesssim\mathrm{kHz}$ frequency range our technique can achieve the leading sensitivity amongst laboratory probes of both dark-photon and axion dark matter.

Citations (7)

Summary

We haven't generated a summary for this paper yet.