Monteiro Fernando, Afek Gadi, Carney Daniel, Krnjaic Gordan, Wang Jiaxiang, Moore David C
Department of Physics, Wright Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland-NIST, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2020 Oct 30;125(18):181102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.181102.
Results are reported from a search for a class of composite dark matter models with feeble long-range interactions with normal matter. We search for impulses arising from passing dark matter particles by monitoring the mechanical motion of an optically levitated nanogram mass over the course of several days. Assuming such particles constitute the dominant component of dark matter, this search places upper limits on their interaction with neutrons of α_{n}≤1.2×10^{-7} at 95% confidence for dark matter masses between 1 and 10 TeV and mediator masses m_{ϕ}≤0.1 eV. Because of the large enhancement of the cross section for dark matter to coherently scatter from a nanogram mass (∼10^{29} times that for a single neutron) and the ability to detect momentum transfers as small as ∼200 MeV/c, these results provide sensitivity to certain classes of composite dark matter models that substantially exceeds existing searches, including those employing kilogram- or ton-scale targets. Extensions of these techniques can enable directionally sensitive searches for a broad class of previously inaccessible heavy dark matter candidates.
本文报告了对一类与正常物质存在微弱长程相互作用的复合暗物质模型的搜索结果。我们通过监测一个光学悬浮的纳克级质量物体在数天时间内的机械运动，来寻找暗物质粒子经过时产生的脉冲。假设此类粒子构成暗物质的主要成分，对于质量在1至10 TeV之间且媒介子质量(m_{ϕ}≤0.1) eV的暗物质，该搜索在95%置信水平下对其与中子的相互作用设定了上限(α_{n}≤1.2×10^{-7})。由于暗物质从纳克级质量物体相干散射的截面大幅增强（约为单个中子的(10^{29})倍），并且能够检测低至约200 MeV/c的动量转移，这些结果对某些类别的复合暗物质模型的灵敏度大大超过了现有搜索，包括那些使用千克级或吨级目标的搜索。这些技术的扩展能够对一类广泛的此前难以探测的重暗物质候选体进行方向灵敏的搜索。
