Wideband Search for Axionlike Dark Matter Using Octupolar Nuclei in a Crystal

Area of Science:

• Cosmology and astrophysics
• Particle physics
• Nuclear physics

Background:

• The majority of the universe's matter is dark matter, which remains undetected.
• Ultralight axionlike particles (ALPs) are a leading dark matter candidate.
• ALPs may manifest as oscillating violations of nuclear symmetries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To search for evidence of ultralight axionlike particles (ALPs) as a dark matter candidate.
• To constrain the ALP-gluon coupling strength.
• To probe a wide range of ALP masses.

Main Methods:

• Searched for oscillating parity-odd, time-reversal-odd nuclear Schiff moments.
• Utilized ^{153}Eu ions within a crystal environment.
• Analyzed data to set limits on ALP properties.

Main Results:

• Established constraints on the ALP-gluon coupling strength.
• Covered a broad spectrum of ALP masses, spanning eight decades.
• No definitive detection of ALPs, but significant limits were placed.

Conclusions:

• The search provides valuable constraints for dark matter theories involving ALPs.
• This experiment advances the search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and other dark matter candidates.
• Future experiments can build upon these results to further probe ALP parameter space.