Search for Axionlike Dark Matter Using Liquid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

2025/04/22 by Walter, Julian, Maliaka, Olympia, Zhang, Yuzhe +13 · 4 citations
#Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.16044

Abstract

We search for dark matter in the form of axionlike particles (ALPs) in the mass range 5.576741 neV/c² - 5.577733 neV/c² by probing their possible coupling to fermion spins through the ALP field gradient. This is achieved by performing proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on a sample of methanol as a technical demonstration of the Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment Gradient (CASPEr-Gradient) Low-Field apparatus. Searching for spin-coupled ALP dark matter in this mass range with associated Compton frequencies in a 240 Hz window centered at 1.348570 MHz resulted in a sensitivity to the ALP-proton coupling constant of g_ap ≈ 3 × 10^-2 GeV^-1. This narrow-bandwidth search serves as a proof-of-principle and a commissioning measurement, validating our methodology and demonstrating the experiment's capabilities. CASPEr-Gradient Low-Field will probe the mass range from 4.1 \peV/c² to 17 \neV/c² with hyperpolarized samples to boost the sensitivity beyond the astronomical limits.

Cited by

• Searching for axion dark matter with magnetic resonance force microscopy
• Search for a solar-bound axion halo using the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches
• Detecting gravitational waves with spin systems
• Prospects for relic neutrino detection using nuclear spin experiments

Related

• Overview of the Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)
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• Hunting for Axionlike Dark Matter by Searching for an Oscillating Neutron Electric Dipole Moment
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• Dark Matter Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is Sensitive to Dark Photons and the Axion-Photon Coupling