New Limit on Axionlike Dark Matter Using Cold Neutrons
Ivo Schulthess, E. Chanel, Anastasio Fratangelo, Alexander Gottstein, Andreas Gsponer, Z. Hodge, C. Pistillo, D. Ries, T. Söldner, Jacob Thorne, F. M. Piegsa
Abstract
We report on a search for dark matter axionlike particles (ALPs) using a Ramsey-type apparatus for cold neutrons. A hypothetical ALP-gluon coupling would manifest in a neutron electric dipole moment signal oscillating in time. Twenty-four hours of data have been analyzed in a frequency range from $23\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{Hz}$ to 1 kHz, and no significant oscillating signal has been found. The usage of present dark-matter models allows one to constrain the coupling of ALPs to gluons in the mass range from ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}19}$ to $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}12}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$. The best limit of ${C}_{G}/{f}_{a}{m}_{a}=2.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{13}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GeV}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ (95% C.L.) is reached in the mass range from $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$ to $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}14}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$.