Roberts, BM;
Delva, P;
Al-Masoudi, A;
Amy-Klein, A;
Bærentsen, C;
Baynham, C;
Benkler, E;
... Wolf, P; + view all
(2020)
Search for transient variations of the fine structure constant and dark matter using fiber-linked optical atomic clocks.
New Journal of Physics
, 22
, Article 093010. 10.1088/1367-2630/abaace.
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Abstract
We search for transient variations of the fine structure constant using data from a European network of fiber-linked optical atomic clocks. By searching for coherent variations in the recorded clock frequency comparisons across the network, we significantly improve the constraints on transient variations of the fine structure constant. For example, we constrain the variation to |δα/α| < 5 × 10−17 for transients of duration 103 s. This analysis also presents a possibility to search for dark matter, the mysterious substance hypothesised to explain galaxy dynamics and other astrophysical phenomena that is thought to dominate the matter density of the universe. At the current sensitivity level, we find no evidence for dark matter in the form of topological defects (or, more generally, any macroscopic objects), and we thus place constraints on certain potential couplings between the dark matter and standard model particles, substantially improving upon the existing constraints, particularly for large (104 km) objects.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Search for transient variations of the fine structure constant and dark matter using fiber-linked optical atomic clocks |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1367-2630/abaace |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abaace |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | dark matter, atomic clock, quantum sensor, fine structure constant |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10112574 |
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