Related papers: Optomechanical dark matter instrument for direct d…
We show that dark matter direct detection experiments are sensitive to the existence of particles with a small effective charge (for instance, via couplings to a kinetically mixed, low-mass dark photon). Our forecasts do not depend on these…
Dark matter particles populating our galactic halo could be directly detected by measuring their scattering off target nuclei or electrons in a suitable detector. As this interaction is expected to occur with very low probability and would…
Mirror matter is a possible dark matter candidate. It is predicted to exist if parity is an unbroken symmetry of the vacuum. The existence of the mirror matter, which in addition to gravity is coupled to our world through photon-mirror…
We develop a framework for computing light dark matter direct detection rates through single phonon and magnon excitations via general effective operators. Our work generalizes previous calculations focused on spin-independent interactions…
We explore the possibility of using superfluid helium for direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter (DM). We discuss the relevant phenomenology resulting from the scattering of an incident dark matter particle on a Helium nucleus. Rather than…
The symmetron, one of the light scalar fields introduced by dark energy theories, is thought to modify the gravitational force when it couples to matter. However, detecting the symmetron field is challenging due to its screening behavior in…
We consider the physics of an optomechanical cavity subject to coherent two-phonon driving, i.e. degenerate parametric amplification of the mechanical mode. We show that in such a system, the cavity mode can effectively "inherit" parametric…
Identifying the true theory of dark matter depends crucially on accurately characterizing interactions of dark matter (DM) with other species. In the context of DM direct detection, we present a study of the prospects for correctly…
Dark matter interactions with massless or very light Standard Model particles, as photons or neutrinos, may lead to a suppression of the matter power spectrum at small scales and of the number of low mass haloes. Bounds on the dark matter…
The ultralight boson represents a promising dark matter candidate exhibiting unique wave-like behaviors. These properties could transfer to the dark mediator, such as the kinetic mixing dark photon, which can be a link between the dark and…
Optomechanical systems are promising platforms for controlled light-matter interactions. They are capable of providing several fundamental and practical novel features when the mechanical oscillator is cooled down to nearly reach its ground…
We propose hydrostatic pressure -- a well-established tool for tuning properties of condensed matter -- as a novel route for optimizing targets for light dark matter direct detection, specifically via phonons. Pressure dramatically affects…
A number of direct detection experiments are searching for electron excitations created by scattering of sub-GeV dark matter. We present an alternate formulation of dark matter-electron scattering in terms of the dielectric response of a…
We present a novel search for dark photon dark matter (DM) using terrestrial magnetic field measurements at frequencies below 100 Hz. Coherently oscillating dark photon DM can induce a monochromatic magnetic field via kinetic mixing with…
Dark matter direct detection experiments are designed to look for the scattering of dark matter particles that are assumed to move with virial velocities $\sim 10^{-3}$. At these velocities, the energy deposition in the detector is large…
Dark matter (DM) particles with mass in the sub-GeV range are an attractive alternative to heavier weakly-interacting massive particles, but direct detection of such light particles is challenging. If however DM-nucleus scattering leads to…
We propose the use of several unconventional materials as detectors for dark matter with mass beneath the MeV scale. These include the transition-metal dichalcogenide TiSe$_2$ hosting a low-energy plasmon in the charge-density-wave phase,…
Exploring gravitational interactions between objects with small masses has become increasingly timely. Concurrently, oscillators with masses ranging between milligrams and grams in cavity optomechanical systems sparked interest for probing…
Dark matter self-interactions can affect the small scale structure of the Universe, reducing the central densities of dwarfs and low surface brightness galaxies in accord with observations. From a particle physics point of view, this points…
We present a new model of the dark sector involving Dirac fermion dark matter, with axial coupling to a dark photon which provides a portal to Standard Model particles. In the non-relativistic limit, this implies that the dominant effective…