Detection of Bosenovae with Quantum Sensors on Earth and in Space

TL;DR

This paper investigates how terrestrial and space-based quantum sensors can detect transient signals from bosenova explosions caused by ultralight dark matter, potentially revealing new physics beyond current capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of detecting bosenova events from ULDM with quantum sensors, expanding the experimental reach into unexplored parameter spaces.

Findings

Upcoming experiments can probe ULDM couplings and masses.

Space-based interferometers enhance detection sensitivity.

Detection of bosenova signatures is feasible with current and future technology.

Abstract

In a broad class of theories, the accumulation of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) with particles of mass $10^{-22}~\textrm{eV} < m_{\phi} < 1~\textrm{eV}$ leads the to formation of long-lived bound states known as boson stars. When the ULDM exhibits self-interactions, prodigious bursts of energy carried by relativistic bosons are released from collapsing boson stars in bosenova explosions. We extensively explore the potential reach of terrestrial and space-based experiments for detecting transient signatures of emitted relativistic bursts of scalar particles, including ULDM coupled to photons, electrons, and gluons, capturing a wide range of motivated theories. For the scenario of relaxion ULDM, we demonstrate that upcoming experiments and technology such as nuclear clocks as well as space-based interferometers will be able to sensitively probe orders of magnitude in the ULDM coupling-mass parameter space, challenging to study otherwise, by detecting signatures of transient bosenova events. Our analysis can be readily extended to different scenarios of relativistic scalar particle emission.