Detecting gravitational signatures of dark matter with atom gradiometers

TL;DR

This paper explores how long-baseline atom gradiometers, both terrestrial and space-based, can detect gravitational signatures of dark matter across a wide mass range, potentially revealing subcomponents and ultralight dark matter effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that atom gradiometers can detect certain dark matter subcomponents and ultralight dark matter effects more effectively than laser interferometers, expanding detection possibilities.

Findings

Detects dark matter subcomponents constituting about 10% of local density.

Probes ultralight dark matter with masses below 10^{-17} eV.

More sensitive to fast-oscillating spacetime perturbations than LIGO and LISA.

Abstract

We study the purely gravitational signatures of dark matter from the ultralight to the ultraheavy mass range in proposed long-baseline atom gradiometers, focusing on terrestrial designs, such as AION-km and MAGIS-km, as well as space-based concepts, such as MAGIS-space, AEDGE and AEDGE+. Due to its exceptional acceleration sensitivity and depending on astrophysical backgrounds, a detector similar to AEDGE+ could detect a dark matter subcomponent which constitutes $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$ of the local dark matter energy density and is populated by compact clumps of mass between $10^6$~kg and $10^{10}$~kg ($10^{-25}~M_\odot\lesssim M \lesssim 10^{-21}~M_\odot$) in an otherwise unexplored region of dark matter model space. Furthermore, because the gravitational observable depends on the relative gravitational time delay measured by spatially separated atomic clouds, we find that atom gradiometers are parametrically more sensitive than laser interferometers, such as LIGO and LISA, to fast-oscillating spacetime perturbations sourced by energy density and pressure fluctuations of ultralight dark matter. Depending on astrophysical backgrounds, a detector akin to AEDGE+ could probe a DM overdensity of $\mathcal{O}(10)$ times the local dark matter energy density for masses $m\lesssim 10^{-17}$~eV.