Searching for Ultralight Dark Matter with M{\"o}ssbauer Resonance

TL;DR

This paper explores using Mossbauer spectroscopy to detect ultralight scalar dark matter by measuring nuclear energy shifts, achieving sensitivities surpassing existing experiments for certain couplings.

Contribution

It introduces a novel stationary Mossbauer spectroscopy method to probe ultralight dark matter interactions with nuclei, providing projected sensitivities that outperform current constraints.

Findings

Ag-109 isotope offers the highest sensitivity.

Projected constraints on dark matter couplings exceed existing limits.

Stationary Mossbauer measurements are advantageous at higher dark matter masses.

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of probing the interaction between ultralight scalar dark matter and atomic nuclei using a stationary Mossbauer spectroscopy scheme. The exceptional energy resolution of the Mossbauer resonance enables testing nuclear energy shifts arising from the local dark matter field. In principle, a stationary measurement allows faster data acquisition and becomes advantageous at higher dark matter masses in the range 10^{-15} - 10^{-8} eV. We present the projected sensitivity to the dark matter parameter space for three candidate Mossbauer isotopes, Ag-109, Sc-45, and Zn-67. Among them, Ag-109 provides the highest sensitivity, followed by Zn-67. For Ag-109, the scalar dark matter photon coupling f_gamma^{-1} can be constrained down to the level of 10^{-18} GeV^{-1}}, exceeding the sensitivity of several existing experiments. The scalar dark matter gluon coupling f_g^{-1} can be probed down to 10^{-21} GeV^{-1}, while the scalar dark matter quark coupling y_d can reach approximately 10^{-22} GeV^{-1}. These results demonstrate that Mossbauer based techniques offer a promising and competitive approach for probing ultralight dark matter interactions with Standard Model particles.