NSF-BSF: Development of High-Precision Atomic Methods and Dark Matter Searches

NSF-BSF：高精度原子方法和暗物质搜索的发展

• 批准号: 2309254
• 负责人: Marianna Safronova
• 金额: $ 41.2万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309254&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; BSF; Development; Precision; Atomic; NSF; BSF; Development; Precision; Atomic

Plentiful observational data on galactic and larger scales cannot be explained based on the observed matter content in the framework of “normal gravity.” The prevailing view is that invisible “dark matter” dominates the matter content of the Universe. This project will explore new ways to study the nature of dark matter, which is one of the most puzzling scientific questions of the 21st century. The overarching goal of the research is to provide a number of dearly needed theoretical results that are necessary to take full advantage of the revolutionary progress in atom-based quantum technologies that are a new frontier in searches for new physics. The tools that will be developed, especially in understanding atomic structure calculations and theoretical concepts related to new physics models and how to benchmark them, will have far-reaching use for the community. The work will be important for applications in quantum information and the development of quantum sensors, studies of fundamental symmetries, determination of nuclear properties from atomic spectroscopy, astrophysics, plasma physics, and others.The project will spearhead a new generation of atomic precision measurements aimed at searches for physics beyond the Standard Model with a particular focus on dark matter (DM) searches. It was previously assumed that the ratio of the optical atomic clocks is only sensitive to photon-DM coupling via the variation of the fine-structure constant. This project will explore additional sensitivities of optical clocks to the hadronic sector due to the oscillation of the charge radius. Moreover, the clocks are sensitive not only to scalar dark matter but also to highly motivated pseudo-scalar axion and axion-like (APL) particles. Exploiting sensitivities to these hadronic DM couplings requires knowledge of the field shift constants that can be computed with the methods that will be developed in this project. The PI will explore the sensitivities of different clocks, including highly charged ions, to these new effects. The goals of the project are to (1) develop new paradigms for the detection of ultralight dark matter (UDM) with quantum sensors, (2) develop the phenomenology of specific UDM models, and (3) develop methods to significantly increase the precision of the atomic theory needed for the design and interpretation of experiments.This project is jointly funded by the Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Theory Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

基于“正常重力”框架中观察到的物质内容，无法解释有关银河系和较大尺度的大量观察数据。普遍的观点是，看不见的“暗物质”主导了宇宙的物质内容。该项目将探索研究暗物质本质的新方法，这是21世纪最难题的科学问题之一。该研究的总体目标是提供许多非常需要的理论结果，这些结果充分利用了基于原子的量子技术的革命进步，这些量子技术是寻找新物理学的新领域。将开发的工具，尤其是在理解与新物理模型有关的原子结构计算和理论概念以及如何对其进行基准测试方面的工具，将对社区具有深远的使用。这项工作对于在量子信息中的应用和量子传感器的开发，基本对称性的研究，确定原子光谱，天体物理学，血浆物理学等方面的研究将很重要。该项目将率先搜索新一代的原子精度测量值，旨在搜索具有标准模型的物理学，以搜索标准模型（特定的搜索量）（DM）（DM）。以前假定光原子时钟的比率仅通过细胞结构常数的变化对光子-DM耦合敏感。由于电荷半径的振荡，该项目将探索光学时钟对Hadronic扇区的额外敏感性。此外，时钟不仅对标量暗物质也很敏感，而且对高度动机的伪量表轴和类似轴的（APL）颗粒也很敏感。利用对这些HADRONIC DM耦合的敏感性需要了解可以使用本项目中将要开发的方法计算的场移动常数。 PI将探索不同时钟的敏感性，包括高电离离子对这些新效果的敏感性。该项目的目标是（1）开发新的范式，以检测具有量子传感器的超轻暗物质（UDM），（2）发展特定UDM模型的现象学，（3）开发方法来显着提高实验的原子理论所需的原子理论的精确性，并依靠这些实验的启发性，并选择了原理的启发性，并且是依赖的，且依从性的景点，和分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子，分子的理论。竞争性研究（EPSCOR）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估被认为是珍贵的支持。