First Results of Axion Dark Matter Search with DANCE

Yuka Oshima, Hiroki Fujimoto, Masaki Ando, Tomohiro Fujita, Jun'ya Kume, Yuta Michimura, Soichiro Morisaki, Koji Nagano, Atsushi Nishizawa, Ippei Obata

Published 2023-03-07Version 1

Axions are one of the well-motivated candidates for dark matter, originally proposed to solve the strong \textit{CP} problem in particle physics. Dark matter Axion search with riNg Cavity Experiment (DANCE) is a new experimental project to search for axion dark matter in the mass range of $10^{-17}~\mathrm{eV} < m_a < 10^{-11}~\mathrm{eV}$. We aim to detect the rotational oscillation of linearly polarized light caused by the axion-photon coupling with a bow-tie cavity. The first results of the prototype experiment, DANCE Act-1, are reported from a 24-hour observation. We found no evidence for axions and set 95% confidence level upper limits on the axion-photon coupling $g_{a \gamma} \lesssim 8 \times 10^{-4}~\mathrm{GeV^{-1}}$ in $10^{-14}~\mathrm{eV} < m_a < 10^{-13}~\mathrm{eV}$. Although the bounds did not exceed the current best limits, this work is the first demonstration of axion dark matter search with an optical cavity.