May 17, 2024

Dark Photon Dark Matter Breakthrough: Trailblazing Cryogenic Detection Techniques

Searching for Dark Photon Dark Matter with a Cryogenic Millimeter-Wave Receiver. Credit: KyotoU Global Comms/Shunsuke Adachi
Millimeter-wave innovations assist in examining light dark matter.
Scientists at Kyoto University have actually established an experimental approach to examine ultra-light dark matter by observing its gravitational impacts on visible matter. Utilizing millimeter-wave sensing in cryogenic conditions, the group accomplished experimental criteria for uncharted mass ranges of dark photon dark matter (DPDM) using brand-new strategies.
There might have been more than one way to bring the biblical Goliath down, however David chose to assault using a little stone with a slingshot.
In the same spirit, scientists have approached the secret of dark matter– which constitutes one-fourth of deep space– not by direct observation but rather by tape-recording its gravitational impacts on noticeable matter.

A group of researchers at Kyoto University has now developed a speculative approach for taking a look at ultra-light dark matter around 0.1 milli-electron volts, using a technology for millimeter-wave picking up in cryogenic conditions, identified by low thermal noise.
” We achieved experimental parameters for uncharted mass range of dark photon dark matter– or DPDM– by utilizing new methods formerly untried in this field,” says lead author Shunsuke Adachi.
The evasive mass of a single dark matter particle has actually been assumed to be heavier than that of a proton. Adachis teams search for ultra-low-mass dark matter addresses the very tough problem of detection that has actually avoided scientists for over three decades.
” Our research study on millimeter-wave technologies might further the advancement in sophisticated telecommunications such as 5G and 6G,” includes Adachi.
A devoted millimeter-wave receiver is cooled to -270 ℃ to reduce thermal sound to accommodate weak conversion photons. This cryogenic receiver is used to search for DPDMs with a mass variety of about 0.1 meV.
Adachi posits that although his group didnt find any significant signal in this dataset, by performing their experiments with unprecedentedly rigid constraints– tighter than cosmological constraints– they opened up possibilities for investigating dark matter.
Normal photons are theoretically converted from dark photons using metal plate surfaces. These conversion photons correspond to the mass of dark photons because of energy conservation. For instance, the conversion photon frequency of 10-300 GHz corresponds to dark photon mass from 0.05 to 1 meV.
” We are thrilled that our small group had the ability to get important outcomes from our high-sensitivity experiments for finding DPDMs in an undiscovered mass variety,” concludes Adachi.
Reference: “Search for Dark Photon Dark Matter in the Mass Range 74– 110 μeV with a Cryogenic Millimeter-Wave Receiver” by S. Kotaka, S. Adachi, R. Fujinaka, S. Honda, H. Nakata, Y. Seino, Y. Sueno, T. Sumida, J. Suzuki, O. Tajima and S. Takeichi (DOSUE-RR Collaboration), 17 February 2023, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.130.071805.
Financing: JSPS KAKENHI.

Researchers at Kyoto University have developed a speculative technique to take a look at ultra-light dark matter by observing its gravitational effects on visible matter. Utilizing millimeter-wave picking up in cryogenic conditions, the team accomplished speculative specifications for unexplored mass ranges of dark photon dark matter (DPDM) using brand-new methods. These conversion photons correspond to the mass of dark photons since of energy conservation. The conversion photon frequency of 10-300 GHz corresponds to dark photon mass from 0.05 to 1 meV.