High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
The nature of dark matter remains obscure in spite of decades of experimental efforts. The mass of dark matter candidates can span a wide range, and its coupling with the Standard Model sector remains uncertain. All these unknowns make the detection of dark matter extremely challenging. Ultralight d...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L012022 |
| _version_ | 1827285597310418944 |
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| author | Xiao Xue Zi-Qing Xia Xingjiang Zhu Yue Zhao Jing Shu Qiang Yuan N. D. Ramesh Bhat Andrew D. Cameron Shi Dai Yi Feng Boris Goncharov George Hobbs Eric Howard Richard N. Manchester Aditya Parthasarathy Daniel J. Reardon Christopher J. Russell Ryan M. Shannon Renée Spiewak Nithyanandan Thyagarajan Jingbo Wang Lei Zhang Songbo Zhang |
| author_facet | Xiao Xue Zi-Qing Xia Xingjiang Zhu Yue Zhao Jing Shu Qiang Yuan N. D. Ramesh Bhat Andrew D. Cameron Shi Dai Yi Feng Boris Goncharov George Hobbs Eric Howard Richard N. Manchester Aditya Parthasarathy Daniel J. Reardon Christopher J. Russell Ryan M. Shannon Renée Spiewak Nithyanandan Thyagarajan Jingbo Wang Lei Zhang Songbo Zhang |
| author_sort | Xiao Xue |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The nature of dark matter remains obscure in spite of decades of experimental efforts. The mass of dark matter candidates can span a wide range, and its coupling with the Standard Model sector remains uncertain. All these unknowns make the detection of dark matter extremely challenging. Ultralight dark matter, with m∼10^{−22} eV, is proposed to reconcile the disagreements between observations and predictions from simulations of small-scale structures in the cold dark matter paradigm while remaining consistent with other observations. Because of its large de Broglie wavelength and large local occupation number within galaxies, ultralight dark matter behaves like a coherently oscillating background field with an oscillating frequency dependent on its mass. If the dark matter particle is a spin-1 dark photon, such as the U(1)_{B} or U(1)_{B−L} gauge boson, it can induce an external oscillating force and lead to displacements of test masses. Such an effect would be observable in the form of periodic variations in the arrival times of radio pulses from highly stable millisecond pulsars. In this study, we search for evidence of ultralight dark photon dark matter (DPDM) using 14-year high-precision observations of 26 pulsars collected with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. While no statistically significant signal is found, we place constraints on coupling constants for the U(1)_{B} and U(1)_{B−L} DPDM. Compared with other experiments, the limits on the dimensionless coupling constant ε achieved in our study are improved by up to two orders of magnitude when the dark photon mass is smaller than 3×10^{−22} eV (10^{−22} eV) for the U(1)_{B} (U(1)_{B−L}) scenario. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:16:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9aa7108156ad42289bbe44f31edc65f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:16:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-9aa7108156ad42289bbe44f31edc65f92024-04-12T17:18:24ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642022-02-0141L01202210.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L012022High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing ArrayXiao XueZi-Qing XiaXingjiang ZhuYue ZhaoJing ShuQiang YuanN. D. Ramesh BhatAndrew D. CameronShi DaiYi FengBoris GoncharovGeorge HobbsEric HowardRichard N. ManchesterAditya ParthasarathyDaniel J. ReardonChristopher J. RussellRyan M. ShannonRenée SpiewakNithyanandan ThyagarajanJingbo WangLei ZhangSongbo ZhangThe nature of dark matter remains obscure in spite of decades of experimental efforts. The mass of dark matter candidates can span a wide range, and its coupling with the Standard Model sector remains uncertain. All these unknowns make the detection of dark matter extremely challenging. Ultralight dark matter, with m∼10^{−22} eV, is proposed to reconcile the disagreements between observations and predictions from simulations of small-scale structures in the cold dark matter paradigm while remaining consistent with other observations. Because of its large de Broglie wavelength and large local occupation number within galaxies, ultralight dark matter behaves like a coherently oscillating background field with an oscillating frequency dependent on its mass. If the dark matter particle is a spin-1 dark photon, such as the U(1)_{B} or U(1)_{B−L} gauge boson, it can induce an external oscillating force and lead to displacements of test masses. Such an effect would be observable in the form of periodic variations in the arrival times of radio pulses from highly stable millisecond pulsars. In this study, we search for evidence of ultralight dark photon dark matter (DPDM) using 14-year high-precision observations of 26 pulsars collected with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. While no statistically significant signal is found, we place constraints on coupling constants for the U(1)_{B} and U(1)_{B−L} DPDM. Compared with other experiments, the limits on the dimensionless coupling constant ε achieved in our study are improved by up to two orders of magnitude when the dark photon mass is smaller than 3×10^{−22} eV (10^{−22} eV) for the U(1)_{B} (U(1)_{B−L}) scenario.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L012022 |
| spellingShingle | Xiao Xue Zi-Qing Xia Xingjiang Zhu Yue Zhao Jing Shu Qiang Yuan N. D. Ramesh Bhat Andrew D. Cameron Shi Dai Yi Feng Boris Goncharov George Hobbs Eric Howard Richard N. Manchester Aditya Parthasarathy Daniel J. Reardon Christopher J. Russell Ryan M. Shannon Renée Spiewak Nithyanandan Thyagarajan Jingbo Wang Lei Zhang Songbo Zhang High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Physical Review Research |
| title | High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array |
| title_full | High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array |
| title_fullStr | High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array |
| title_full_unstemmed | High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array |
| title_short | High-precision search for dark photon dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array |
| title_sort | high precision search for dark photon dark matter with the parkes pulsar timing array |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L012022 |
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