First Results from ABRACADABRA-10 cm: A Search for Sub-$\mu$eV Axion Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental results from ABRACADABRA-10 cm, a prototype search for axion dark matter in the sub-microelectronvolt mass range, setting new upper limits on axion-photon coupling.

Contribution

It provides the initial results from a novel experimental setup targeting low-mass axion dark matter, demonstrating its potential to explore unexplored parameter space.

Findings

No evidence for axion-like dark matter was found.

Set 95% confidence level upper limits on axion-photon coupling.

Results are competitive with astrophysical constraints in the same mass range.

Abstract

The axion is a promising dark matter candidate, which was originally proposed to solve the strong-CP problem in particle physics. To date, the available parameter space for axion and axion-like particle dark matter is relatively unexplored, particularly at masses $m_a\lesssim1\,\mu$eV. ABRACADABRA is a new experimental program to search for axion dark matter over a broad range of masses, $10^{-12}\lesssim m_a\lesssim10^{-6}$ eV. ABRACADABRA-10 cm is a small-scale prototype for a future detector that could be sensitive to the QCD axion. In this Letter, we present the first results from a 1 month search for axions with ABRACADABRA-10 cm. We find no evidence for axion-like cosmic dark matter and set 95% C.L. upper limits on the axion-photon coupling between $g_{a\gamma\gamma}<1.4\times10^{-10}$ GeV$^{-1}$ and $g_{a\gamma\gamma}<3.3\times10^{-9}$ GeV$^{-1}$ over the mass range $3.1\times10^{-10}$ eV - $8.3\times10^{-9}$ eV. These results are competitive with the most stringent astrophysical constraints in this mass range.