Search for Axionlike Dark Matter through Nuclear Spin Precession in Electric and Magnetic Fields

Abel, C; Ayres, NJ; Ban, G; Bison, G; Bodek, K; Bondar, V; Daum, M; Fairbairn, M; Flambaum, VV; Geltenbort, P; Green, K; Griffith, WC; van der Grinten, M; Grujic, ZD; Harris, PG; Hild, N; Iaydjiev, P; Ivanov, SN; Kasprzak, Malgorzata; Kermaidic, Y; Kirch, K; Koch, H-C; Komposch, S; Koss, PA; Kozela, A; Krempel, J; Lauss, B; Lefort, T; Lemiere, Y; Marsh, DJE; Mohanmurthy, P; Mtchedlishvili, A; Musgrave, M; Piegsa, FM; Pignol, G; Rawlik, M; Rebreyend, D; Ries, D; Roccia, S; Rozpedzik, D; Schmidt-Wellenburg, P; Severijns, Nathal; Shiers, D; Stadnik, YV; Weis, A; Wursten, Elise; Zejma, J; Zsigmond, G

doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.7.041034

Search for Axionlike Dark Matter through Nuclear Spin Precession in Electric and Magnetic Fields

Author:

Abel, C

Ayres, NJ ; Ban, G ; Bison, G ; Bodek, K ; Bondar, V ; Daum, M ; Fairbairn, M ; Flambaum, VV ; Geltenbort, P ; Green, K ; Griffith, WC ; van der Grinten, M ; Grujic, ZD ; Harris, PG ; Hild, N ; Iaydjiev, P ; Ivanov, SN ; Kasprzak, Malgorzata ; Kermaidic, Y ; Kirch, K ; Koch, H-C ; Komposch, S ; Koss, PA ; Kozela, A ; Krempel, J ; Lauss, B ; Lefort, T ; Lemiere, Y ; Marsh, DJE ; Mohanmurthy, P ; Mtchedlishvili, A ; Musgrave, M ; Piegsa, FM ; Pignol, G ; Rawlik, M ; Rebreyend, D ; Ries, D ; Roccia, S ; Rozpedzik, D ; Schmidt-Wellenburg, P ; Severijns, Nathal ; Shiers, D ; Stadnik, YV ; Weis, A ; Wursten, Elise ; Zejma, J ; Zsigmond, G

Keywords:

dark matter, axions, neutron electric dipole moment, spin precession, Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Physics, Multidisciplinary, Physics, DIPOLE MOMENT, CP CONSERVATION, NEUTRON, COLD, CONSTRAINTS, INVARIANCE, 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences, 0204 Condensed Matter Physics, 0206 Quantum Physics, 51 Physical sciences

Abstract:

We report on a search for ultralow-mass axionlike dark matter by analyzing the ratio of the spinprecession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and 199Hg atoms for an axion-induced oscillating electric dipole moment of the neutron and an axion-wind spin-precession effect. No signal consistent with dark matter is observed for the axion mass range 10−24 ≤ ma ≤ 10−17 eV. Our null result sets the first laboratory constraints on the coupling of axion dark matter to gluons, which improve on astrophysical limits by up to 3 orders of magnitude, and also improves on previous laboratory constraints on the axion coupling to nucleons by up to a factor of 40.