Quantum Sensing Radiative Decays of Neutrinos and Dark Matter Particles

TL;DR

This paper proposes using quantum sensors like superconducting qubits and trapped ions to detect faint electromagnetic signals from the radiative decay of neutrinos and dark matter particles, potentially surpassing current detection limits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum sensing approach to detect weak particle decays, evaluating its effectiveness for neutrinos and dark matter with existing and scalable quantum technologies.

Findings

Quantum sensors can detect dark matter decay photons with current technology.

Probing neutrino magnetic moments beyond current limits requires scalable quantum systems.

The proposed method extends the search for weakly interacting particles using quantum devices.

Abstract

We explore a novel strategy for detecting the radiative decay of very weakly interacting particles by leveraging the extreme sensitivity of quantum devices, such as superconducting transmon qubits and trapped ion systems, to faint electromagnetic signals. By modeling the effective electric field induced by the decay photons, we evaluate the response of quantum sensors across two particle physics scenarios: the cosmic neutrino background and two-component dark matter. We assess the discovery potential of these devices and outline the parameter space accessible under current experimental capabilities. Our analysis demonstrates that quantum sensors can probe radiative decays of dark matter candidates using existing technology, while probing neutrino magnetic moments beyond current limits will require scalable quantum architectures with enhanced coherence.