Abstract
We propose an experiment to search for QCD axion and axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter. Nuclei that are interacting with the background axion dark matter acquire time-varying CP-odd nuclear moments such as an electric dipole moment. In analogy with nuclear magnetic resonance, these moments cause precession of nuclear spins in a material sample in the presence of an electric field. Precision magnetometry can be used to search for such precession. An initial phase of this experiment could cover many orders of magnitude in ALP parameter space beyond the current astrophysical and laboratory limits. And with established techniques, the proposed experimental scheme has sensitivity to QCD axion masses m_a < 10^-9 eV, corresponding to theoretically well-motivated axion decay constants f_a > 10^16 GeV. With further improvements, this experiment could ultimately cover the entire range of masses m_a < 10^-6 eV, complementary to cavity searches.
Highlights
The discovery of the nature of dark matter would provide significant insights into particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology
We propose an experiment to search for QCD axion and axionlike-particle dark matter
It is sensitive to axionlike particles (ALPs) that couple to the nucleon electric dipole moment (EDM), probing sources of symmetry breaking in the ALP sector
Summary
The discovery of the nature of dark matter would provide significant insights into particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. A material with a crystal structure with broken inversion symmetry at the site of the high- Z atoms is necessary for generation of a large effective electric field EÃ, which is proportional to the displacement of the heavy atom from the centrosymmetric position in the unit cell [39] In a ferroelectric, this displacement can be switched by an applied voltage; given the oscillating nature of the ALP-induced signal, it may not be necessary to modulate this displacement, in which case any polar crystal can be used. The resonance is broadened significantly so that an Oð1Þ range of frequencies is covered in any given frequency bin In this regime, one may use any of the established techniques searching for static nuclear EDMs but with short sampling times ≲ðħ=mac2Þ, look for an oscillating signal in the data. This eliminates the systematic problems encountered by solid-state static EDM searches, such as the dissipation effects in the solid material associated with electric-field reversals [48]
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