Work

Ultralight Axial Dark Matter

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Ultralight dark matter could be an axial vector field, a simple possibility which motivates new experiments. Couplings to fermions, through an axial vector current or a dark electric dipole moment operator, lead to enhanced spin torques compared to axion dark matter. An axial vector also has an analogue of the axion-photon coupling, though its consistent realization requires a photon mass. Under this "axial-photon" coupling, the effect of a background magnetic field is suppressed, and the strongest experimental probes involve polarimetry, electric fields in superconducting cavities, and the cosmic microwave background. Since a massive axial vector is dual to a massive two-form, our results also apply to "Kalb-Ramond" dark matter motivated by string theory.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.10671

Authors: Hook, Anson, Huang, Junwu, Zhou, Kevin

Institutions: University of Maryland, College Park, Perimeter Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Government of Canada, Institut Périmètre de physique théorique, Ministry of Colleges and Universities, High Energy Physics

Awards: G1286236842, Particle Theory and Cosmology Beyond the Standard Model, G1863003419, G3083819904, G42916606, G759921648, G969889393

OpenAlex ID: W7212261968

Cites: 180

Cited by:

Related to: 10