Search for Low-Mass Axion Dark Matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm.

Chiara P Salemi,Lindley Winslow,Kate A Richardson,Rachel Nguyen,Reyco Henning,Yonatan Kahn,Andrew Gavin,Jonathan L Ouellet,Benjamin R Safdi,Sabrina Cheng,Kaliroë M W Pappas,Nicholas L Rodd,Joshua W Foster

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.127.081801

Abstract

Two of the most pressing questions in physics are the microscopic nature of the dark matter that comprises 84% of the mass in the Universe and the absence of a neutron electric dipole moment. These questions would be resolved by the existence of a hypothetical particle known as the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion. In this work, we probe the hypothesis that axions constitute dark matter, using the ABRACADABRA-10cm experiment in a broadband configuration, with world-leading sensitivity. We find no significant evidence for axions, and we present 95% upper limits on the axion-photon coupling down to the world-leading level g_{aγγ}<3.2×10^{-11} GeV^{-1}, representing one of the most sensitive searches for axions in the 0.41-8.27neV mass range. Our work paves a direct path for future experiments capable of confirming or excluding the hypothesis that dark matter is a QCD axion in the mass range motivated by string theory and grand unified theories.

Highlights

Two of the most pressing questions in physics are the microscopic nature of the dark matter that comprises 84% of the mass in the Universe and the absence of a neutron electric dipole moment
Our work paves a direct path for future experiments capable of confirming or excluding the hypothesis that dark matter is a quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion in the mass range motivated by string theory and grand unified theories
The axion is a well-motivated candidate to explain the particle nature of dark matter (DM) [1,2,3]. This pseudoscalar particle is naturally realized as a pseudo-Goldstone boson of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, which is broken at a high scale fa; the axion would be exactly massless but for its low-energy interactions with quantum chromodynamics (QCD) [4,5,6,7]

Summary

Introduction

Two of the most pressing questions in physics are the microscopic nature of the dark matter that comprises 84% of the mass in the Universe and the absence of a neutron electric dipole moment. We find no significant evidence for axions, and we present 95% upper limits on the axionphoton coupling down to the world-leading level gaγγ < 3.2 × 10−11 GeV−1, representing one of the most sensitive searches for axions in the 0.41–8.27 neV mass range.

Results

Conclusion