Effects of ultra-light dark matter on the gravitational quantum well

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultra-light dark matter could affect neutron transitions in gravitational quantum wells, providing a way to constrain dark matter properties through quantum experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking ultra-light dark matter to neutron transition probabilities in gravitational wells, offering a novel experimental constraint method.

Findings

Transition probabilities are sensitive to dark matter mass and coupling.

Constraints on dark matter parameters are derived from non-observation of deviations.

Potential to detect or limit ultra-light dark matter effects in quantum systems.

Abstract

We study the influence of a periodic perturbation of the effective masses of the nucleons, due to the assumed semi-classical ultra-light dark matter background, on the motion of neutrons in a gravitational quantum well. Our focus is on the transition probability between the lowest two energy states, with the Rabi frequency in the kHz region corresponding to the series of "sweet spot" dark matter masses in the $10^{-11}$eV ballpark. The relevant probability is written in terms of the specific mass and of the effective coupling to the ordinary matter. These parameters can be constrained by the non-observation of any significant deviations of the measured transition probabilities from the dark-matter-free picture.