Dark matter induced Brownian motion

Abstract

We discuss a novel approach for directional, light dark matter searches inspired by the high precision position measurements achieved in gravitational wave detectors. If dark matter interacts with ordinary matter, movable masses are subject to an effect similar to Brownian motion induced by the scattering with dark matter particles which exhibits certain characteristics and could be observed. We provide estimates for the sensitivity of a hypothetical experiment looking for that motion. Interestingly, if successful, our approach would allow to constrain the local distribution of dark matter momentum.

Light dark matter scattering in gravitational wave detectors

“…Mainly because the recoil energy is so tiny compared to the thermal energy (E R = 3.37×10 −45 J and E th = 1.31×10 −22 J). If we would follow the suggestion of [4] instead and use m = 10 −6 kg with the other parameters kept the same the SNR would be much larger, but still small 2 th = 9.33×10 −17 . So we would need not only much lighter mirrors but also very low temperatures, to enhance the SNR and make the signal actually observable.…”

“…In fact, random hits as we study them here are more easily studied and analysed in the time-domain, cf. [4]. The advantage of using the frequency-domain approach is the comparability to the results from GW detectors where everything is presented in this way.…”

“…One of the authors discussed with other collaborators the prospects for the discovery of the Cosmic Neutrino Background using laser interferometers also briefly mentioning a e-mail: lee.chunhao9112@gmail.com (corresponding author) b e-mail: csnugroho@cts.nthu.edu.tw c e-mail: spinrath@phys.nthu.edu.tw DM in [3]. Scattering of DM particles in GW detectors and interferometers in general can lead to an effect similar to Brownian motion which was discussed from a particle physicist's point of view in [4]. Shortly after, a similar idea was discussed in [5], which employs a more common language in the GW community.…”

Gravitational wave probes of dark matter: challenges and opportunities

“…Furthermore, Ref. [196] recently proposed optical cavities as sensitive probes to detect the Brownian motion caused by interacting electroweak-scale DM particles.…”

Search for Composite Dark Matter with Optically Levitated Sensors

“…With only a few days of live time, the techniques presented here extend sensitivity by many orders of magnitude beyond traditional weakly interacting massive particle detectors for the benchmark model considered and surpass stringent, but model-dependent constraints on DM-neutron interactions arising from fifth-force experiments. These results provide an initial experimental demonstration of a general class of new techniques to search for DM using optomechanical sensors [12][13][14][75][76][77], and future searches with optimized systems are expected to substantially exceed the sensitivities obtained here by reaching lower thresholds and longer live times [75]. Large arrays of sensors could allow tracklike signals from DM particles to be reconstructed [12].…”