Prospects for Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter candidates in deci-Hz Band with IndIGO-D
Abstract
We investigate the sensitivity of IndIGO-D, a proposed space-based decihertz gravitational-wave interferometer, to different classes of ultralight dark matter. IndIGO-D will probe the ∼0.01--10 Hz frequency band between those accessible to current ground- and future space-based gravitational-wave interferometers, providing access to ultralight dark-matter masses beyond the reach of existing instruments. We consider two complementary signatures: interferometric displacements induced by coherently oscillating scalar (dilaton), vector (dark-photon, U(1)B and U(1)B−L gauge groups), and tensor fields with masses mDM∼10−17--10−14 eV; and changes in laser polarization induced by pseudoscalar axion dark matter at higher masses, around ma∼10−12 eV. For the dilatons, dark photons and tensors, we compute the expected sensitivities using two pipelines -- cross-correlation and BSD excess-power -- assuming L-shaped and triangular interferometer layouts and three representative noise power spectral densities (S1, S2, S3), each for two years of continuous observation. We find that the projected sensitivities agree to within a factor of order unity across the search pipelines and interferometer geometries. In particular, we show that IndIGO-D could open previously unconstrained coupling parameter space for vector and tensor dark matter across mDM∼10−16--10−14 eV, bridging the sensitivity of space- and ground-based experiments. For axion dark matter, we demonstrate that a complementary detection for laser light polarization shifts, limited primarily by photon shot noise, could probe the axion-photon coupling gaγ at masses around ma∼10−12 eV at a level potentially better than that of other future experiments without degrading sensitivity to gravitational waves.
Versions
Related
- Earth as a transducer for ultralight bosonic dark-matter detection
- Detection prospects for heavy WIMP dark matter around M31* in microwave band
- Indirect Dark Matter Detection in the Multi-Messenger Era: Experiments, Systematics, Anomalies, and Prospects for Discovery
- Direct detection constraints on EFT operators for inelastic dark matter
- Direct detection of right-handed fermionic dark matter: electron-recoil measurements in Xe atoms
BibTeX
@misc{hoque2026prospects,
title = {{Prospects for Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter candidates in deci-Hz Band with IndIGO-D}},
author = {Md. Emanuel Hoque and Andrew L. Miller and Arunava Mukherjee},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.15240},
eprint = {2608.15240},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.15240},
note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Prospects for Direct Detection of Ultralight Dark Matter candidates in deci-Hz Band with IndIGO-D
AU - Md. Emanuel Hoque
AU - Andrew L. Miller
AU - Arunava Mukherjee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.15240
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.15240
AB - We investigate the sensitivity of IndIGO-D, a proposed space-based decihertz gravitational-wave interferometer, to different classes of ultralight dark matter. IndIGO-D will probe the ∼0.01--10 Hz frequency band between those accessible to current ground- and future space-based gravitational-wave interferometers, providing access to ultralight dark-matter masses beyond the reach of existing instruments. We consider two complementary signatures: interferometric displacements induced by coherently oscillating scalar (dilaton), vector (dark-photon, U(1)_B and U(1)_B−L gauge groups), and tensor fields with masses m_DM∼10^−17--10^−14 eV; and changes in laser polarization induced by pseudoscalar axion dark matter at higher masses, around m_a∼10^−12 eV. For the dilatons, dark photons and tensors, we compute the expected sensitivities using two pipelines -- cross-correlation and BSD excess-power -- assuming L-shaped and triangular interferometer layouts and three representative noise power spectral densities (S1, S2, S3), each for two years of continuous observation. We find that the projected sensitivities agree to within a factor of order unity across the search pipelines and interferometer geometries. In particular, we show that IndIGO-D could open previously unconstrained coupling parameter space for vector and tensor dark matter across m_DM∼10^−16--10^−14 eV, bridging the sensitivity of space- and ground-based experiments. For axion dark matter, we demonstrate that a complementary detection for laser light polarization shifts, limited primarily by photon shot noise, could probe the axion-photon coupling g_aγ at masses around m_a∼10^−12 eV at a level potentially better than that of other future experiments without degrading sensitivity to gravitational waves.
ER -