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arXiv · 1912.00940

Gravimeter search for compact dark matter objects moving in the Earth

C. J. Horowitz·R. Widmer-Schnidrig
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Abstract

Dark matter could be composed of compact dark objects (CDOs). These objects may interact very weakly with normal matter and could move freely {\it inside} the Earth. A CDO moving in the inner core of the Earth will have an orbital period near 55 min and produce a time dependent signal in a gravimeter. Data from superconducting gravimeters rule out such objects moving inside the Earth unless their mass $m_D$ and or orbital radius $a$ are very small so that $m_D\, a < 1.2\times 10^{-13}M_\oplus R_\oplus$. Here $M_\oplus$ and $R_\oplus$ are the mass and radius of the Earth.

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C. J. Horowitz, R. Widmer-Schnidrig. 2019-12-02. Gravimeter search for compact dark matter objects moving in the Earth. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.051102

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