Detection prospects of ultralight scalars with quantum sensing experiments
Date
2025
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
With the discovery of the Higgs boson, the Standard Model is complete. However, mysteries such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy remain. The supersymmetry-motivated model of dark matter, weakly interacting massive particles, have thus far evaded detection. This motivates the search for alternative models of dark matter and exploration of associated phenomena. Ultralight scalar dark matter (ULDM), which can be produced in the early universe via the misalignment mechanism, is one such class of theories, which is well motivated due to the ubiquity of scalars in theories beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The goal of this thesis is to explore detection prospects of BSM ultralight scalars as the local dark matter and as originating from astrophysical sources via quantum sensing experiments. We use detailed simulations to explore different quantum metrology algorithms, including dynamical decoupling, to study how to achieve highest sensitivity to ULDM with a nuclear clock experiment. We further consider boson stars composed of ULDM and their explosions called bosenovae, and investigate whether such exotic astrophysical phenomena are detectable using quantum sensors on earth and in space. Finally, we consider general BSM scalar and pseudo-scalar bursts originating from astrophysical sources and study whether they can be used to do multi-messenger astronomy beyond the Standard Model.
Description
Keywords
Boson stars, Dark matter, Dynamical decoupling, Multimessenger astronomy, Quantum sensing, Ultralight dark matter