Optical ultra-stable optical clock cavities as resonant mass gravitational wave detectors in search for new physics

TL;DR

This paper proposes using ultra-stable optical cavities from atomic clocks as compact, high-frequency gravitational wave detectors capable of exploring new physics beyond the standard model, including ultralight bosons.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of optical atomic clock cavities as high-frequency gravitational wave detectors for frequencies above 2 kHz, enabling new physics searches.

Findings

Detects gravitational waves in the 2-20 kHz range with sub-2 meter instruments.

Can observe signals from neutron star mergers, black hole mergers, and stellar collapses.

Probes ultralight bosons like QCD axions through black hole superradiance.

Abstract

We propose to use table-top-size ultra-stable optical cavities from the state-of-the-art optical atomic clocks as bar gravitational wave detectors for the frequencies higher than 2 kHz. We show that 2-20 kHz range of gravitational waves' spectrum can be accessed with instruments below 2 meters in size. The proposed cavities' materials and properties are being within the present-day technology grasp. The ultra-stable optical cavities allow detecting not only predicted gravitational wave signals from such sources as binary neutron star mergers and post-mergers, subsolar-mass primordial black-hole mergers, and collapsing stellar cores, but can reach new physics beyond standard model looking for ultralight bosons such as QCD axions and axion-like particles formed through black hole superradiance.