Scalar-Magnetometer Search for Ultralight Dark Photon Dark Matter with a Single-Site, Two-Sensor Array: A 6-Channel DTFT Likelihood Analysis with Scalar Optically Pumped Magnetometers
We report on a laboratory search for ultralight dark photon dark matter using a single-site, two-sensor scalar magnetometer array. The experiment employs two scalar optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) operated in a differential configuration to suppress common-mode noise and enhance sensitivity to spatially coherent dark photon fields. We analyze 10.5 hours of continuous data with a six-channel complex data vector evaluated at the three physical frequencies of the expected dark photon signal triplet. Assuming Gaussian noise, we develop a likelihood framework to set robust, frequency-resolved upper limits on the kinetic-mixing parameter ε, which governs the coupling between Standard Model photons and dark photons. Within the mass range 4×10−15eV≤mA′≤3×10−14eV, we obtain the most stringent direct laboratory limits to date on ε, complementing existing astrophysical bounds including those inferred from observations of the Leo-T dwarf galaxy.
@article{arxiv.2511.08064,
title = {Scalar-Magnetometer Search for Ultralight Dark Photon Dark Matter with a Single-Site, Two-Sensor Array: A 6-Channel DTFT Likelihood Analysis with Scalar Optically Pumped Magnetometers},
author = {Peisen Zhao and Ole Behrens and Maja Benning and Peter Fierlinger and Xuefen Han and Maximilian Huber and Florian Kuchler and Yevgeny V. Stadnik and Philipp Wunderl},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.08064},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
22 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Physical Review D