Scalar dark matter induced oscillation of permanent-magnet field

TL;DR

This paper proposes an experiment using SQUID magnetometers to detect scalar dark matter by observing oscillations in the magnetic field of permanent magnets, potentially matching the sensitivity of existing fundamental constant variation searches.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental approach to detect scalar dark matter through magnetic field oscillations, expanding the search methods for dark matter interactions.

Findings

The proposed experiment can reach sensitivities comparable to current leading searches.

Oscillations in magnetic fields could reveal scalar dark matter interactions.

The method is effective in the frequency range from a few Hz to 1 MHz.

Abstract

Scalar-field dark matter models imply small oscillations of fundamental constants. These oscillations could result in observable variations of the magnetic field in a permanent magnet. We propose an experiment for detection of this type of dark matter through searches of oscillations of magnetic field of permanent magnets with a SQUID magnetometer or a low-noise radiofrequency amplifier. We show that this experiment may have comparable sensitivity to leading experiments searching for variations of fundamental constants in the range of frequencies from a few Hz to about 1 MHz. We also discuss applicability of the approach of variations of fundamental constants for accounting for the interaction with scalar dark matter.