arXiv subjects

N. L. Figueroa

Publications and source records attributed to N. L. Figueroa.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

A Multi-Messenger Search for Exotic Field Emission with a Global Magnetometer Network

Quantum sensor networks in combination with traditional astronomical observations are emerging as a novel modality for multi-messenger astronomy. Here we develop a generic analysis framework that uses a data-driven approach to model the sensitivity of a quantum sensor network to astrophysical signals as a consequence of beyond-the-Standard Model (BSM) physics. The analysis method evaluates correlations between sensors to search for BSM signals coincident with astrophysical triggers such as black hole mergers, supernovae, or fast radio bursts. Complementary to astroparticle approaches that search for particlelike signals (e.g. WIMPs), quantum sensors are sensitive to wavelike signals from exotic quantum fields. This analysis method can be applied to networks of different types of quantum sensors, such as atomic clocks, matter-wave interferometers, and nuclear clocks, which can probe many types of interactions between BSM fields and standard model particles. We use this analysis method to carry out the first direct search utilizing a terrestrial network of precision quantum sensors for BSM fields emitted during a black hole merger. Specifically we use the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics (GNOME) to perform a search for exotic low-mass field (ELF) bursts generated in coincidence with a gravitational wave signal from a binary black hole merger (GW200311 115853) detected by LIGO/Virgo on the 11th of March 2020. The associated gravitational wave heralds the arrival of the ELF burst that interacts with the spins of fermions in the magnetometers. This enables GNOME to serve as a tool for multi-messenger astronomy. Our search found no significant events, and consequently we place the first lab-based limits on combinations of ELF production and coupling parameters.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

What can a GNOME do? Search targets for the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches

Numerous observations suggest that there exist undiscovered beyond-the-Standard-Model particles and fields. Because of their unknown nature, these exotic particles and fields could interact with Standard Model particles in many different ways and assume a variety of possible configurations. Here we present an overview of the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches (GNOME), our ongoing experimental program designed to test a wide range of exotic physics scenarios. The GNOME experiment utilizes a worldwide network of shielded atomic magnetometers (and, more recently, comagnetometers) to search for spatially and temporally correlated signals due to torques on atomic spins from exotic fields of astrophysical origin. We survey the temporal characteristics of a variety of possible signals currently under investigation such as those from topological defect dark matter (axion-like particle domain walls), axion-like particle stars, solitons of complex-valued scalar fields (Q-balls), stochastic fluctuations of bosonic dark matter fields, a solar axion-like particle halo, and bursts of ultralight bosonic fields produced by cataclysmic astrophysical events such as binary black hole mergers.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

New Horizons: Scalar and Vector Ultralight Dark Matter

The last decade has seen unprecedented effort in dark matter model building at all mass scales coupled with the design of numerous new detection strategies. Transformative advances in quantum technologies have led to a plethora of new high-precision quantum sensors and dark matter detection strategies for ultralight ($<10\,$eV) bosonic dark matter that can be described by an oscillating classical, largely coherent field. This white paper focuses on searches for wavelike scalar and vector dark matter candidates.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Precision determination of isotope shifts in ytterbium and implications for new physics

We report measurements of isotope shifts for the five spinless Yb isotopes on the $6s^2\,^1\textrm{S}_0 \rightarrow 5d6s\,^1\textrm{D}_2$ transition using Doppler-free two-photon spectroscopy. We combine these data with existing measurements on two transitions in Yb$^+$ [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 123002 (2020)], where deviation from King-plot linearity showed hints of a new bosonic force carrier at the 3$σ$ level. The combined data strongly reduces the significance of the new-physics signal. We show that the observed nonlinearity in the joint Yb/Yb$^+$ King-plot analysis can be accounted for by the deformation of the Yb nuclei.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2021

Search for oscillations of fundamental constants using molecular spectroscopy

A possible implication of an ultralight dark matter (UDM) field interacting wibeginth the Standard Model (SM) degrees of freedom is oscillations of fundamental constants. Here, we establish direct experimental bounds on the coupling of an oscillating UDM field to the up, down, and strange quarks and to the gluons, for oscillation frequencies between 10 Hz and 10^8 Hz. We employ spectroscopic experiments that take advantage of the dependence of molecular transition frequencies on the nuclear masses. Our results apply to previously unexplored frequency bands, and improve on existing bounds at frequencies > 5 MHz. We identify a sector of UDM - SM coupling space where the bounds from Equivalence Principle tests may be challenged by next-generation experiments of the present kind.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Optically Enhanced Electric Field Sensing Using Nitrogen-Vacancy Ensembles

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have shown promise as inherently localized electric-field sensors, capable of detecting individual charges with nanometer resolution. Working with NV ensembles, we demonstrate that a detailed understanding of the internal electric field environment enables enhanced sensitivity in the detection of external electric fields. We follow this logic along two complementary paths. First, using excitation tuned near the NV's zero-phonon line, we perform optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures in order to precisely measure the NV center's excited-state susceptibility to electric fields. In doing so, we demonstrate that the characteristically observed contrast inversion arises from an interplay between spin-selective optical pumping and the NV centers' local charge distribution. Second, motivated by this understanding, we propose and analyze a novel scheme for optically-enhanced electric-field sensing using NV ensembles; we estimate that our approach should enable order of magnitude improvements in the DC electric-field sensitivity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Overview of the Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)

An overview of our experimental program to search for axion and axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques is presented. An oscillating axion field can exert a time-varying torque on nuclear spins either directly or via generation of an oscillating nuclear electric dipole moment (EDM). Magnetic resonance techniques can be used to detect such an effect. The first-stage experiments explore many decades of ALP parameter space beyond the current astrophysical and laboratory bounds. It is anticipated that future versions of the experiments will be sensitive to the axions associated with quantum chromodynamics (QCD) having masses $\lesssim 10^{-9}~{\rm eV}/c^2$.

physics.ins-det↗