New Ideas for hunting light dark matter

by Clara Murgui

Monday 6 Nov 2023, 11:30 → 13:30 Europe/Madrid

Sala graus (UAB Facultat Ciències i Biociències) (In-person Seminar)

The nature of dark matter remains one of the greatest puzzles in physics. Although current direct detection experiments based on nuclear recoil have reached outstanding sensitivities, light dark matter models with particle mass below the GeV scale are still largely unconstrained. I will present new ideas for seeking interactions with very small energy deposition by exploiting quantum technology in table-top experiments. In particular, I will examine a proposal to use atom interferometers to detect a light dark matter subcomponent at sub-GeV masses through quantum decoherence, and will present a novel technique for detecting axions or axion-like particles with optomechanical cavities.