Search for Ultralight Axion Dark Matter with a Levitated Ferromagnetic Torsional Oscillator
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2026
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| author | Li, Chunlong Huang, Yiwei Yang, Shien Ren, Yichong Zhang, Yu Yin, Peiran Huang, Pu Xue, Fei |
| author_facet | Li, Chunlong Huang, Yiwei Yang, Shien Ren, Yichong Zhang, Yu Yin, Peiran Huang, Pu Xue, Fei |
| contents | We present a search for ultralight axion dark matter coupled to electron spins using a levitated ferromagnetic torsional oscillator (FMTO). This platform directly measures axion-induced torques on a macroscopic spin-polarized body, combining large spin density with strong mechanical isolation to probe magnetic fluctuations below 10 Hz while suppressing gradient-field noise. In a first implementation, the experiment yielded 18000 s of analyzable data at room temperature under high vacuum with optical readout and triple-layer magnetic shielding. A likelihood-based statistical framework, incorporating stochastic fluctuations in the axion-field amplitude, was used to evaluate the data. No excess consistent with an axion-induced pseudo-magnetic field was observed near 2e-14 eV. To account for possible shielding-induced signal attenuation, we quantify its effect and report both the uncorrected (g_aee < 1e-7) and attenuation-corrected (g_aee < 6e-5) 90% CL limits on the axion-electron coupling. Looking ahead, improvements guided by both noise-budget analysis and shielding-attenuation considerations, including optimized levitation geometry, cryogenic operation, and superconducting shielding, are expected to boost sensitivity by multiple orders of magnitude. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_04576 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Search for Ultralight Axion Dark Matter with a Levitated Ferromagnetic Torsional Oscillator Li, Chunlong Huang, Yiwei Yang, Shien Ren, Yichong Zhang, Yu Yin, Peiran Huang, Pu Xue, Fei High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment We present a search for ultralight axion dark matter coupled to electron spins using a levitated ferromagnetic torsional oscillator (FMTO). This platform directly measures axion-induced torques on a macroscopic spin-polarized body, combining large spin density with strong mechanical isolation to probe magnetic fluctuations below 10 Hz while suppressing gradient-field noise. In a first implementation, the experiment yielded 18000 s of analyzable data at room temperature under high vacuum with optical readout and triple-layer magnetic shielding. A likelihood-based statistical framework, incorporating stochastic fluctuations in the axion-field amplitude, was used to evaluate the data. No excess consistent with an axion-induced pseudo-magnetic field was observed near 2e-14 eV. To account for possible shielding-induced signal attenuation, we quantify its effect and report both the uncorrected (g_aee < 1e-7) and attenuation-corrected (g_aee < 6e-5) 90% CL limits on the axion-electron coupling. Looking ahead, improvements guided by both noise-budget analysis and shielding-attenuation considerations, including optimized levitation geometry, cryogenic operation, and superconducting shielding, are expected to boost sensitivity by multiple orders of magnitude. |
| title | Search for Ultralight Axion Dark Matter with a Levitated Ferromagnetic Torsional Oscillator |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Experiment |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.04576 |