LIGO Document P2500252-v12
- Gravitational-wave detectors can probe the existence of dark matter with exquisite sensitivity. Here, we perform a search for three kinds of dark matter -- dilatons (spin-0), dark photons (spin-1) and tensor bosons (spin-2) -- using three independent methods on the first part of the most recent data from the fourth observing run of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA. Each form of dark matter could have interacted with different standard-model particles in the instruments, causing unique differential strains on the interferometers. While we do not find any evidence for a signal, we place the most stringent upper limits to-date on each of these models. For scalars with masses between \( \left[4 \times 10^{-14}, 1.5 \times 10^{-13}\right] \,\mathrm{eV} \) that couple to photons or electrons, our constraints improve upon those from the third observing run by one order of magnitude, with the tightest limit of \( \sim 10^{-20} \,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1} \) at a mass of \( \sim 2 \times 10^{-13} \,\mathrm{eV} \). For vectors with masses between \( \left[7 \times 10^{-13}, 8.47 \times 10^{-12}\right] \mathrm{eV} \) that couple to baryons, our constraints supersede those from MICROSCOPE and Eöt-Wash by one to two orders of magnitude, reaching a minimum of \( \sim 5 \times 10^{-24} \) at a mass of \( \sim 10^{-12} \,\mathrm{eV} \). For tensors with masses of \( \left[4 \times 10^{-14}, 8.47 \times 10^{-12}\right] \,\mathrm{eV} \) (the full mass range analyzed) that couple via a Yukawa interaction, our constraints surpass those from fifth-force experiments by four to five orders of magnitude, achieving a limit as low as \( \sim 8 \times 10^{-9} \) at \( \sim 2 \times 10^{-13} \,\mathrm{eV} \). Our results show that gravitational-wave interferometers have become frontiers for new physics and laboratories for direct multi-model dark-matter detection.
DCC Version 3.5.2, contact
DCC Help