Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We present the technical proposal for the Atom Interferometer CERN Experiment (AICE), a $\mathcal{O}(100)$ m vertical atom interferometer to be installed against the wall of the PX46 access shaft to the LHC. AICE is conceived as a versatile and flexible long-baseline atom-interferometry facility whose primary scientific goal is probing for bosonic ultralight dark matter (ULDM) in a mass range inaccessible to other experiments, with a secondary goal of pioneering the exploration of gravitational waves (GWs) with frequencies in the range ${\sim}$0.03-3 Hz as a pathfinder for future longer-baseline detectors. The initial configuration employs ultracold $^{87}$Sr atoms in a single-photon 698-nm interferometer with three shaft-based atom sources in a multi-source gradiometer geometry, supported by one surface reference source for laser stabilisation and diagnostics, to target scalar ULDM. Operation with $^{88}$Sr will give sensitivity to axion-like particles (ALPs), vector ULDM with $B-L$ couplings and violation of the principle of equivalence, while a $^{171}$Yb upgrade will improve the sensitivity to $B-L$ couplings and equivalence violations. Probing the Einstein equivalence principle (EP) and measuring $α$ will proceed in parallel with the ULDM searches. A conceptual feasibility study and a detailed technical implementation study have established that PX46 is a uniquely mature and implementation-ready site, with no technical showstoppers. Completing site preparation works during LS3 would enable the subsequent installation and operation of AICE without impacting HL-LHC operations. The detector design builds on the VLBAI and MAGIS experiments and the AION-10 Technical Design Report, scaling the strontium gradiometer architecture to the $\sim$100 m baseline. AICE is endorsed by the TVLBAI Proto-Collaboration, comprising 57 institutions in 22 countries.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Arduini, Gianluigi, Augst, Nadja, Bason, Mark G., Baynham, Charles, Bertoldi, Andrea, Bertone, Gianfranco, Blas, Diego, Bortoletto, Daniela, Bose, Sougato, Bozzi, Roberto Ales, Buchmueller, Oliver, Bud, Tamara Alice, Burrage, Clare, Calatroni, Sergio, Carlton, John, Charmandaris, Vassilis, Chiofalo, Maria Luisa, Cladé, Pierre, Coleman, Jonathon, Corsanego, Fabio, De Roeck, Albert, Devienne, Arnaud, Di Pumpo, Fabio, Ellis, John, Fayet, Pierre, Foot, Chris, Fuchs, Elina, Gaaloul, Naceur, Gardner, Susan, Giese, Enno, Granados, Eduardo, Guellati-Khelifa, Saïda, Guinchard, Michael, Hakulinen, Timo, Harte, Tiffany, Hobson, Richard, Holynski, Michael, Infantino, Angelo, Kehagias, Alex, Kilian-Rademacher, Eva, Korsch, Wolfgang, Lafarge, Damien, Lellouch, Samuel, Lombriser, Lucas, Asamar, Elias Lopez, Lopez-Gonzalez, J. Luis, Maggiore, Michele, Marcel, Charline, Marchant, Anna, McCabe, Christopher, Mileti, Gaetano, Millington, Peter, Mitchell, Jeremiah, Mouelle, Noam, Cornago, Angel Navascues, Pillon, François, Poggiani, Rosa, Rafelski, Johann, Rasel, Ernst M., Reckermann, Maike, Roura, Albert, Samoes, Rui, Nieto, Federico Sanchez, Sander, Jack, Scarcia, Carlo, Schelfhout, Jesse, Schleich, Wolfgang, Schlippert, Dennis, Schneider, Ulrich, Schramm, Steven, Schreck, Florian, Sergijenko, Olga, Soares-Santos, Marcelle, Tino, Guglielmo M., Tinsley, Jonathan N., Valenzuela, Tristan, Valuch, Daniel, van der Grinten, Maurits, van Druten, Klaasjan, Vaskonen, Ville, von Klitzing, Wolf, Werner, Michael
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203937480
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