Maglev for dark matter: Dark-photon and axion dark matter sensing with levitated superconductors

Journal Article · 14 March 2024 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.109.055024 · OSTI ID:2323978

Higgins, Gerard  ^[1]; Kalia, Saarik  ^[2]; Liu, Zhen  ^[2]

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1. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (Austria). Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI); Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg (Sweden)
2. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

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 1 kHz (corresponding to dark-matter masses $$m_{DM}$$ ≲ 10^–12 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 Hz ≲ $$f_{DM}$$ ≲ kHz frequency range our technique can achieve the leading sensitivity among laboratory probes of both dark-photon and axion dark matter.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359; SC0011842
• OSTI ID: 2323978
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2282619; OSTI ID: 2339811
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-23-624-SQMS-V; arXiv:2310.18398; oai:inspirehep.net:2715331; TRN: US2408542
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Vol. 109, Issue 5; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English