Search for Ultra-light Dark Matter with the Nuclear Clock

by Mr Chaitanya Paranjape (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

Thursday 19 Dec 2024, 14:30 → 15:30 Asia/Kolkata

AG (69)

After a brief introduction to ultra-light dark matter (ULDM) searches with atomic clocks, I will explain why the recent laser excitation of the isomeric transition in the Thorium-229 nucleus will take us a step forward in this direction. Leading to the development of a nuclear clock, the enhanced sensitivity of this transition will allow us to probe uncharted territory in the parameter space of ULDM models. Ahead of a working nuclear clock, I will describe how we can utilize the laser excitation spectrum to already start placing competitive constraints. This would be based on our work: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.15924 “.