Work

Prospects for axion dark matter searches at LISA-like interferometers

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Axion or axionlike particles are one of the leading candidates for dark matter. Because of its tiny coupling with photons, axion dark matter in the background can induce distinct phase velocities for light with different parity, an effect known as birefringence. Here, we propose a modification to the polarization state of the interspacecraft laser link in Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)-like interferometers to make them sensitive to this birefringence effect. We discuss the prospects of using the Sagnac combinations to search for axion dark matter and derive the corresponding sensitivity. With this setup, we show that next-generation laser interferometers in space would have promising sensitivities on the axion-photon coupling with axion mass around 10 − 19 − 10 − 14 eV .

Source: Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.111.055031

Authors: Yue-Hui Yao, Tingyuan Jiang, Yong Tang

Institutions: International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

Award: G6329186922