scholarly journals Search for topological defect dark matter with a global network of optical magnetometers

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 1396-1401
Author(s):  
Samer Afach ◽  
Ben C. Buchler ◽  
Dmitry Budker ◽  
Conner Dailey ◽  
Andrei Derevianko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Domain Walls ◽  
Topological Defect ◽  
Topological Defects ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Global Network ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Long Operation

AbstractUltralight bosons such as axion-like particles are viable candidates for dark matter. They can form stable, macroscopic field configurations in the form of topological defects that could concentrate the dark matter density into many distinct, compact spatial regions that are small compared with the Galaxy but much larger than the Earth. Here we report the results of the search for transient signals from the domain walls of axion-like particles by using the global network of optical magnetometers for exotic (GNOME) physics searches. We search the data, consisting of correlated measurements from optical atomic magnetometers located in laboratories all over the world, for patterns of signals propagating through the network consistent with domain walls. The analysis of these data from a continuous month-long operation of GNOME finds no statistically significant signals, thus placing experimental constraints on such dark matter scenarios.

scholarly journals Search for topological defect dark matter using the global network of optical magnetometers for exotic physics searches (GNOME)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samer Afach ◽  
Ben Buchler ◽  
Dmitry Budker ◽  
Conner Dailey ◽  
Andrei Derevianko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Domain Walls ◽  
Topological Defect ◽  
Topological Defects ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Transient Signals ◽  
The World ◽  
Exotic Physics ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Long Operation

Abstract Results are reported from the first full-scale search for transient signals from exotic fields of astrophysical origin using data from a newly constructed Earth-scale detector: the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches (GNOME). Data collected by the GNOME consist of correlated measurements from optical atomic magnetometers located in laboratories all over the world. GNOME data are searched for patterns of signals propagating through the network consistent with exotic fields composed of ultralight bosons such as axion-like particles (ALPs). Analysis of data from a continuous month-long operation of the GNOME finds no statistically significant signals consistent with those expected due to encounters with topological defects (axion domain walls), placing new experimental constraints on such dark matter scenarios.

scholarly journals Relaxion stars and their detection via atomic physics

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Banerjee ◽  
Dmitry Budker ◽  
Joshua Eby ◽  
Hyungjin Kim ◽  
Gilad Perez
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Atomic Physics ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Hierarchy Problem ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Present Universe ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Physics Experiments ◽  
Detection Strategies

AbstractThe cosmological relaxion can address the hierarchy problem, while its coherent oscillations can constitute dark matter in the present universe. We consider the possibility that the relaxion forms gravitationally bound objects that we denote as relaxion stars. The density of these stars would be higher than that of the local dark matter density, resulting in enhanced signals in table-top detectors, among others. Furthermore, we raise the possibility that these objects may be trapped by an external gravitational potential, such as that of the Earth or the Sun. This leads to formation of relaxion halos of even greater density. We discuss several interesting implications of relaxion halos, as well as detection strategies to probe them. Here, we show that current and near-future atomic physics experiments can probe physical models of relaxion dark matter in scenarios of bound relaxion halos around the Earth or Sun.

scholarly journals Direct detection of mirror matter in Twin Higgs models

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zackaria Chacko ◽  
David Curtin ◽  
Michael Geller ◽  
Yuhsin Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cooling Rate ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Electron Recoil ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Event Rates ◽  
Modest Effect ◽  
Mirror Matter

Abstract We explore the possibility of discovering the mirror baryons and electrons of the Mirror Twin Higgs model in direct detection experiments, in a scenario in which these particles constitute a subcomponent of the observed DM. We consider a framework in which the mirror fermions are sub-nano-charged, as a consequence of kinetic mixing between the photon and its mirror counterpart. We consider both nuclear recoil and electron recoil experiments. The event rates depend on the fraction of mirror DM that is ionized, and also on its distribution in the galaxy. Since mirror DM is dissipative, at the location of the Earth it may be in the form of a halo or may have collapsed into a disk, depending on the cooling rate. For a given mirror DM abundance we determine the expected event rates in direct detection experiments for the limiting cases of an ionized halo, an ionized disk, an atomic halo and an atomic disk. We find that by taking advantage of the complementarity of the different experiments, it may be possible to establish not just the multi-component nature of mirror dark matter, but also its distribution in the galaxy. In addition, a study of the recoil energies may be able to determine the masses and charges of the constituents of the mirror sector. By showing that the mass and charge of mirror helium are integer multiples of those of mirror hydrogen, these experiments have the potential to distinguish the mirror nature of the theory. We also carefully consider mirror plasma screening effects, showing that the capture of mirror dark matter particles in the Earth has at most a modest effect on direct detection signals.

Shaping the World

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
Asif Siddiqi
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Camera Network ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Technical Artifacts ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
African Sahel

Abstract This article explores the biography of a network of Soviet telescopic cameras stationed across the African Sahel during the Cold War. Through joint Soviet-African cooperative programs, scientists used these advanced cameras in Egypt, Somalia, Mali, the Sudan, and Chad to photograph satellites flying overhead to gather data to produce a new model of the Earth, one that Soviet scientists hoped would be an alternative to Western models. I argue that these technical artifacts in Africa, connected into a single global network, represented examples of “infrastructural irruptions” of Cold War technopolitics into African geography, wherein the superpowers placed networked technologies inside postcolonial spaces for the collection of data. Although these technologies were nominally Soviet in origin, the story could also be read as one of Africans who invested their geography with agency in the production of scientific knowledge. Like the socialist moment in Africa and indeed the Soviet Union itself, this camera network no longer exists, its data compromised and its material imprint disappeared. But this “failure” should not blind us to the immanent power of possibility embedded in this incomplete project. I argue that this combination of unbounded aspiration and incomplete materiality was a powerful manifestation of the African-Soviet Modern.

scholarly journals The evolution of galaxy intrinsic alignments in the MassiveBlackII universe

2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (3) ◽  
pp. 4116-4130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aklant K Bhowmick ◽  
Yingzhang Chen ◽  
Ananth Tenneti ◽  
Tiziana Di Matteo ◽  
Rachel Mandelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Misalignment Angle ◽  
Stellar Matter ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Physical Effects

ABSTRACT We investigate the redshift evolution of the intrinsic alignments (IAs) of galaxies in the MassiveBlackII (MBII) simulation. We select galaxy samples above fixed subhalo mass cuts ($M_h\gt 10^{11,12,13}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot }\, h^{-1}$) at z = 0.6 and trace their progenitors to z = 3 along their merger trees. Dark matter components of z = 0.6 galaxies are more spherical than their progenitors while stellar matter components tend to be less spherical than their progenitors. The distribution of the galaxy–subhalo misalignment angle peaks at ∼10 deg with a mild increase with time. The evolution of the ellipticity–direction (ED) correlation amplitude ω(r) of galaxies (which quantifies the tendency of galaxies to preferentially point towards surrounding matter overdensities) is governed by the evolution in the alignment of underlying dark matter (DM) subhaloes to the matter density of field, as well as the alignment between galaxies and their DM subhaloes. At scales $\sim 1~\mathrm{Mpc}\, h^{-1}$, the alignment between DM subhaloes and matter overdensity gets suppressed with time, whereas the alignment between galaxies and DM subhaloes is enhanced. These competing tendencies lead to a complex redshift evolution of ω(r) for galaxies at $\sim 1~\mathrm{Mpc}\, h^{-1}$. At scales $\gt 1~\mathrm{Mpc}\, h^{-1}$, alignment between DM subhaloes and matter overdensity does not evolve significantly; the evolution of the galaxy–subhalo misalignment therefore leads to an increase in ω(r) for galaxies by a factor of ∼4 from z = 3 to 0.6 at scales $\gt 1~\mathrm{Mpc}\, h^{-1}$. The balance between competing physical effects is scale dependent, leading to different conclusions at much smaller scales ($\sim 0.1~\mathrm{Mpc}\, h^{-1}$).

DARK MATTER DENSITY AS A FUNCTION OF THE TIME OF YEAR

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (27) ◽  
pp. 1330022
Author(s):  
ORVIN E. WAGNER
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Wave Pattern ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Matter Wave ◽  
Amplitude Wave ◽  
Dark Matter Density ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Large Amplitude Wave

Until recently I had been assuming from the data taken that the dark matter wave velocity on earth is close to 25 m/s. The density of dark matter is apparently proportional to the reciprocal of the wave velocity squared. I found velocities for 2011 using my interchange method described in my 2010 Physics Essays' article. The data therein was taken near the first of May 2009. Beginning in September 2011, the large amplitude wave velocity was found near 1000 m/s, and increased to more than 20,000 m/s in October in the Northern hemisphere. Apparently one has to take into account the location and tilt of the earth in the dark matter standing wave pattern produced by the sun. I assume that the earth lies at least partially on an antinode for part of the year rather than on a node compared to most of the other planets. The antinode location and dark matter density varies on the earth's surface because the earth's orbit location and tilt varies as a function of the time of year with the tilt determining spring, summer, and winter in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.

scholarly journals Precision Measurement Noise Asymmetry and Its Annual Modulation as a Dark Matter Signature

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Roberts ◽  
Andrei Derevianko
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Dark Matter Halo ◽  
Atomic Clocks ◽  
Annual Modulation ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Galaxy Interactions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Gps Satellites ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Macroscopic Objects

Dark matter may be composed of self-interacting ultralight quantum fields that form macroscopic objects. An example of which includes Q-balls, compact non-topological solitons predicted by a range of theories that are viable dark matter candidates. As the Earth moves through the galaxy, interactions with such objects may leave transient perturbations in terrestrial experiments. Here we propose a new dark matter signature: an asymmetry (and other non-Gaussianities) that may thereby be induced in the noise distributions of precision quantum sensors, such as atomic clocks, magnetometers, and interferometers. Further, we demonstrate that there would be a sizeable annual modulation in these signatures due to the annual variation of the Earth velocity with respect to dark matter halo. As an illustration of our formalism, we apply our method to 6 years of data from the atomic clocks on board GPS satellites and place constraints on couplings for macroscopic dark matter objects with radii R<104km, the region that is otherwise inaccessible using relatively sparse global networks.

scholarly journals A test of the standard dark matter density evolution law using galaxy clusters and cosmic chronometers

2022 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal Bora ◽  
R. F. L. Holanda ◽  
Shantanu Desai ◽  
S. H. Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Cluster ◽  
Matter Density ◽  
Density Evolution ◽  
Full Agreement ◽  
Evolution Law ◽  
Dark Matter Density ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Mass Fractions ◽  
Frw Metric

AbstractIn this paper, we implement a test of the standard law for the dark matter density evolution as a function of redshift. For this purpose, only a flat universe and the validity of the FRW metric are assumed. A deformed dark matter density evolution law is considered, given by $$\rho _c(z) \propto (1+z)^{3+\epsilon }$$ ρ c ( z ) ∝ ( 1 + z ) 3 + ϵ , and constraints on $$\epsilon $$ ϵ are obtained by combining the galaxy cluster gas mass fractions with cosmic chronometers measurements. We find that $$\epsilon =0$$ ϵ = 0 within 2$$\sigma $$ σ c.l., in full agreement with other recent analyses.

scholarly journals New atomic probes for dark matter detection: Axions, axion-like particles and topological defects

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (37) ◽  
pp. 1440007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yevgeny V. Stadnik ◽  
Victor V. Flambaum
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Topological Defect ◽  
Topological Defects ◽  
Molecular Systems ◽  
Pseudoscalar Particle ◽  
Dark Matter Detection ◽  
Detection Schemes ◽  
Matter Detection

We present a brief overview of recently proposed detection schemes for axion, axion-like pseudoscalar particle and topological defect dark matter. We focus mainly on the possibility of using atomic and molecular systems for dark matter detection. For axions and axion-like particles, these methods are complementary probes to ongoing photon–axion interconversion experiments and astrophysical observations. For topological defects, these methods are complementary to conventional astrophysical search schemes based on gravitational signatures.

scholarly journals What is dark matter? An attempt at a theological answer

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-506
Author(s):  
Vladimir M. Menshikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
First Words

Based on the analysis of modern scientific data, the teachings of Russian religious thinkers about “Sophia” and S. L. Frank on reality, the biblical text concerning the creation of the world on the first day shows that dark matter is a special reality in the world. Modern science claims that there is a special “dark matter” in the world, which occupies up to ninety-five percent of the mass of all matter, but its properties are still unknown. Russian religious philosophers show that the creation of the world and matter by God was preceded by the birth of uncreated Sophia, the creation of created Sophia, or the “emanation” of “uncreated reality” and the creation of “created reality”. Based on the first words of the Bible, the assumption is made that the first verse “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1: 1) should be understood not as the creation of the real heaven and the real earth, which is stated in the Bible just below, but as a creation of the angelic world and some kind of special earth, which, apparently, actually is what today in science is referred to as dark matter. The article discusses its properties.

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