Optimal Electromagnetic Searches for Axion and Hidden-Photon Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper derives optimal electromagnetic search strategies for axion and hidden-photon dark matter detection, demonstrating that resonant searches with quantum-limited amplification can significantly outperform broadband methods, especially at low frequencies.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for optimizing electromagnetic searches for dark matter, showing that single-pole resonators near the Bode-Fano limit are nearly ideal and outperform broadband approaches.

Findings

Single-pole resonant searches can exceed bandwidth sensitivity by up to five orders of magnitude.

Resonator quality factors above one million enhance detection sensitivity.

Optimized resonator schemes approach the Bode-Fano limit, establishing near-ideal detection performance.

Abstract

Direct-detection searches for axions and hidden photons are playing an increasingly prominent role in the search for dark matter. In this work, we derive the properties of optimal electromagnetic searches for these candidates, subject to the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL) on amplification. We show that a single-pole resonant search may possess substantial sensitivity outside of the resonator bandwidth and that optimizing this sensitivity may increase scan rates by up to five orders of magnitude at low frequencies. Additional enhancements can be obtained with resonator quality factors exceeding one million, which corresponds to the linewidth of the dark matter signal. We present the resonator optimization in the broader context of determining the optimal receiver architecture (resonant or otherwise). We discuss prior probabilities on the dark matter signal and their role in the search optimization. We determine frequency-integrated sensitivity to be the figure of merit in a wideband search and demonstrate that it is limited by the Bode-Fano criterion. The optimized single-pole resonator is approximately 75% of the Bode-Fano limit, establishing it as a fundamentally near-ideal, single-moded dark matter detection scheme. Our analysis shows, in contrast to previous work, that the scanned single-pole resonant search is superior to a reactive broadband search. Our results motivate the broad application of quantum measurement techniques evading the SQL in future axion and hidden-photon dark matter searches.