Search

In the context of axion search with haloscopes, tunable cavity resonators with high quality factor and high effective volume at frequencies above about 8 GHz are central for probing the axion-photon coupling with the required sensitivity to reach the QCD axion models. Higher order modes in dielectrically-loaded cavities allow for higher effective volumes and larger quality factors compared to basic cylindrical cavities, but a proper cavity frequency tuning mechanism to probe broad axion mass ranges is yet not available. In this work, we report about the design and construction of a tunable prototype of a single-shell dielectric resonator with its axion-sensitive pseudo-TM$_{030}$ high-order mode at about 11 GHz frequency. A clamshell tuning method previously tested for empty cylindrical resonators has been perfected for this geometry through simulations and in situ tests conducted at cryogenic temperature. Tuning is accomplished in a range of about 2 $\%$ the central frequency, without significantly impacting the quality factor of about 175000. The experimental results presented in this work demonstrate the tunability of this type of resonator, definitely confirming its applicability to high frequency axion searches., Comment: 87 pages, 8 figures

Several approaches to quantum gravity lead to nonlocal modifications of fields' dynamics. This, in turn, can give rise to nonlocal modifications of quantum mechanics at non-relativistic energies. Here, we analyze the nonlocal Schr\"{o}dinger evolution of a quantum harmonic oscillator in one such scenario, where the problem can be addressed without the use of perturbation theory. We demonstrate that although deviations from standard quantum predictions occur at low occupation numbers, where they could potentially be detected or constrained by high-precision experiments, the classical limits of quantum probability densities and free energy remain unaffected up to energies comparable with the nonlocality scale. These results provide an example of nonlocal quantum dynamics compatible with classical predictions, suggesting massive quantum objects as a promising avenue for testing some phenomenological aspects of quantum gravity., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures

In the search for axionic Dark Matter, the high frequency part of the QCD axion parameter space is favored, as indicated by both cosmological and astrophysical arguments and recent indications from lattice QCD calculations. To extend the probing range of cavity haloscopes, solutions addressing the unfavorable scaling of cavity volume with frequency must be developed. Here, we present a novel type of high-volume thin shell resonator for high frequency haloscope dark matter searches. The cavity is formed by two nested and coaxial right angle polygonal prisms enclosed within two flat endcaps. For the axion-sensitive (pseudo-)TM010 mode, finite element simulations yield form factor of the order of 0.8 and Q factor of the order of 60000 for a copper cavity at 4$\,$K. High tunability of up to $\sim 5\%$ is achieved by reciprocal rotation of the two prisms, without significant changes in haloscope sensitivity. A prototype aluminium hexagonal cavity was built and tested, confirming the main characteristics of the design., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

We report an axion dark matter search with a haloscope equipped with a microwave photon counter. The haloscope is a tunable high quality factor 3-dimensional microwave cavity placed in a magnetic field. The photon counter, operated cyclically, maps an incoming microwave photon onto the state of a superconducting transmon qubit. The measurement protocol continuously monitors the power emitted by the haloscope cavity as well as the dark count background, and enables tuning of the cavity frequency to probe different axion masses. With this apparatus we enhance by a factor 20 the search speed that can be reached with quantum-limited linear amplifiers, and set a new standard for probing the existence of axions with resonant detectors.

We report the first experimental results obtained with the new haloscope of the QUAX experiment located at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of INFN (LNF). The haloscope is composed of a OFHC Cu resonant cavity cooled down to about 30 mK and immersed in a magnetic field of 8 T. The cavity frequency was varied in a 6 MHz range between 8.831496 and 8.83803 GHz. This corresponds to a previously unprobed mass range between 36.52413 and 36.5511 $\mu$eV. We don't observe any excess in the power spectrum and set limits on the axion-photon coupling in this mass range down to $g_{a\gamma\gamma} < 0.861 \times 10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$ with the confidence level set at $90\%$., Comment: Submitted to Physical Review D (https://journals.aps.org/prd/)

Large frame Ring laser gyroscopes, based on the Sagnac effect, are top sensitivity instrumentation to measure angular velocity with respect to the fixed stars. GINGER (Gyroscopes IN GEneral Relativity) project foresees the construction of an array of three large dimension ring laser gyroscopes, rigidly connected to the Earth. GINGER has the potentiality to measure general relativity effects and Lorentz Violation in the gravity sector, once a sensitivity of $10^{-9}$, or better, of the Earth rotation rate is obtained. Being attached to the Earth crust, the array will also provide useful data for geophysical investigation. For this purpose, it is at present under construction as part of the multi-components observatory called Underground Geophysics at Gran Sasso (UGSS). Sensitivity is the key point to determine the relevance of this instrument for fundamental science. The most recent progress in the sensitivity measurement, obtained on a ring laser prototype called GINGERINO, indicates that GINGER should reach the level of 1 part in $10^{11}$ of the Earth rotation rate., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure

A traveling wave parametric amplifier has been integrated in the haloscope of the QUAX experiment. A search for dark matter axions has been performed with a high Q dielectric cavity immersed in a 8 T magnetic field and read by a detection chain having a system noise temperature of about 2.1 K at the frequency of 10.353 GHz. Scanning has been conducted by varying the cavity frequency using sapphire rods immersed into the cavity. At multiple operating frequencies, the sensitivity of the instrument was at the level of viable axion models.

Absolute angular rotation rate measurements with sensitivity better than prad/s would be beneficial for fundamental science investigations. On this regard, large frame Earth based ring laser gyroscopes are top instrumentation as far as bandwidth, long--term operation, and sensitivity are concerned. Here, we demonstrate that the GINGERINO active--ring laser upper limiting noise is close to $2 \times 10^{-15}$ rad/s for $\sim 2 \times 10^5$ s of integration time, as estimated by the Allan deviation evaluated in a differential measurement scheme. This is more than a factor 10 better than the theoretical prediction so far accounted for ideal ring lasers shot--noise with the two beams counter--propagating inside the cavity considered as two independent propagating modes. This feature is related to the peculiarity of real ring laser system dynamics that causes phase cross--talking among the two counter--propagating modes. In this context, the independent beam model is, then, not applicable and the measured noise limit falls below the expected one., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. Supplementary material available from the authors

In this paper, we outline the scientific objectives, the experimental layout, and the collaborations envisaged for the GINGER (Gyroscopes IN GEneral Relativity) project. The GINGER project brings together different scientific disciplines aiming at building an array of Ring Laser Gyroscopes (RLGs), exploiting the Sagnac effect, to measure continuously, with sensitivity better than picorad/ s, large bandwidth (ca. 1 kHz), and high dynamic range, the absolute angular rotation rate of the Earth. In the paper, we address the feasibility of the apparatus with respect to the ambitious specifications above, as well as prove how such an apparatus, which will be able to detect strong Earthquakes, very weak geodetic signals, as well as general relativity effects like Lense-Thirring and De Sitter, will help scientific advancements in Theoretical Physics, Geophysics, and Geodesy, among other scientific fields., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures

A haloscope of the QUAX--$a\gamma$ experiment, composed of an high-Q resonant cavity immersed in a 8 T magnet and cooled to $\sim 4.5$~K is operated to search for galactic axion with mass $m_a\simeq42.8~\mu\text{eV}$. The design of the cavity with hollow dielectric cylinders concentrically inserted in a OFHC Cu cavity, allowed us to maintain a loaded quality-factor Q $\sim 300000$ during the measurements in presence of magnetic field. Through the cavity tuning mechanism it was possible to modulate the resonance frequency of the haloscope in the region $10.35337-10.35345$~GHz and thus acquire different dataset at different resonance frequencies. Acquiring each dataset for about 50 minutes, combining them and correcting for the axion's signal estimation-efficiency we set a limit on the axion-photon coupling $g_{a\gamma\gamma}< 0.731\times10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$ with the confidence level set at $90\%$.

In this paper we will describe the characterisation of a rf detection chain based on a travelling wave parametric amplifier (TWPA). The detection chain is meant to be used for dark matter axion searches and thus it is mounted coupled to a high Q microwave resonant cavity. A system noise temperature $T_{\rm sys} = (3.3 \pm 0.1$) K has been measured at a frequency of 10.77 GHz, using a novel scheme allowing measurement of $T_{\rm sys} $ exactly at the cavity output port., Comment: 8 pages

The frequency band 1-15 GHz provides exciting prospects for resonant axion haloscopes as indicated by cosmological and astrophysical arguments. Among the challenges currently addressed to reach the required sensitivity, the development of high quality factor cavities that tolerate multi-Tesla fields plays a central role. We report a 3D resonator based on a right circular copper cavity with hollow cylinders that confine higher order modes around the cylinder axis. Its effective volume at 10.3\,GHz is $3.4 \cdot 10^{-2}$ liters, and under an 8\,T-field we measured an internal quality factor of more than 9 millions. These parameters demonstrate the potential of this unique resonator to probe galactic dark matter axion at remarkable scan rates of 15\,MHz/day when the cavity is readout by a quantum-limited receiver.

It is a well known fact that, in the absence of Dark Matter, the observation of the rotation curves of galaxies cannot be explained in terms of Newtonian gravity. Rotation curves become flat in the outer regions, in contrast to what is expected according to Keplerian motion. Far from the galactic center, the gravitational field is supposed to be weak enough so we expect to be able to use Newtonian Gravity; however, even in the weak-field approximation, there are general relativistic effects without a Newtonian counterpart, such as the gravitomagnetic effects originating from mass currents. Using the gravitoelectromagnetic approach to the solution of Einstein equations in the weak-field and slow-motion approximation, we discuss some simple arguments that suggest the surprising result that gravitomagnetic effects may have a relevant role in better understanding the impact of Dark Matter on galactic dynamics. In addition, treating matter as a fluid of dust, we study the influence of post-Newtonian effects on the fluid vorticity., Comment: 10 pages, revised to match the version accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity

We show that using Fermi coordinates it is possible to describe the gravitational field of a wave using a gravitoelectromagnetic analogy. In particular, we show that using this approach, a new phenomenon, called gravitomagnetic resonance, may appear. We describe it both from classical and quantum viewpoints, and suggest that it could in principle be used as the basis for a new type of gravitational wave detectors., Comment: Submitted to the proceedings of the Sixteenth Marcel Grossmann Meeting; largely based on arXiv:2011.01663

A study of initial-state gluon radiation (ISR) in hadron collisions is presented using Drell-Yan (DY) events produced in proton-antiproton collisions by the Tevatron collider at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. This paper adopts a novel approach which uses the mean value of the Z/$\gamma^*$ transverse momentum $$ in DY events as a powerful observable to characterize the effect of ISR. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.4 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the CDF Run II detector, $$ is measured as a function of the Z/$\gamma^*$ invariant mass. It is found that these two observables have a dependence, $ = -8 + 2.2 \ln m_{DY}^2$ [GeV/c], where $m_{DY}$ is the value of the Z/$\gamma^*$ mass measured in units of GeV/$c^2$. This linear dependence is observed for the first time in this analysis. It may be exploited to model the effect of ISR and constrain its impact in other processes., Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures

At the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton ($p\bar{p}$) collider, high-mass electron-neutrino ($e\nu$) pairs are produced predominantly in the process $p \bar{p} \rightarrow W(\rightarrow e\nu) + X$. The asymmetry of the electron and positron yield as a function of their pseudorapidity constrain the slope of the ratio of the $u$- to $d$-quark parton distributions versus the fraction of the proton momentum carried by the quarks. This paper reports on the measurement of the electron-charge asymmetry using the full data set recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab in 2001--2011 and corresponding to 9.1~fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The measurement significantly improves the precision of the Tevatron constraints on the parton-distribution functions of the proton. Numerical tables of the measurement are provided., Comment: 27 pages, 25 figures. To be published in PRD

The debate on gravity theories to extend or modify General Relativity is very active today because of the issues related to ultra-violet and infra-red behavior of Einstein's theory. In the first case, we have to address the Quantum Gravity problem. In the latter, dark matter and dark energy, governing the large scale structure and the cosmological evolution, seem to escape from any final fundamental theory and detection. The state of art is that, up to now, no final theory, capable of explaining gravitational interaction at any scale, has been formulated. In this perspective, many research efforts are devoted to test theories of gravity by space-based experiments. Here we propose straightforward tests by the GINGER experiment, which, being Earth based, requires little modeling of external perturbation, allowing a thorough analysis of the systematics, crucial for experiments where sensitivity breakthrough is required. Specifically, we want to show that it is possible to constrain parameters of gravity theories, like scalar-tensor or Horava-Lifshitz gravity, by considering their post-Newtonian limits matched with experimental data. In particular, we use the Lense-Thirring measurements provided by GINGER to find out relations among the parameters of theories and finally compare the results with those provided by LARES and Gravity Probe-B satellites., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in EPJP

The sensitivity to angular rotation of the top class Sagnac gyroscope GINGERINO is carefully investigated with standard statistical means, using 103 days of continuous operation and the available geodesic measurements of the Earth angular rotation rate. All features of the Earth rotation rate are correctly reproduced. The sensitivity of fractions of frad/s is attained for long term runs. This excellent sensitivity and stability put Sagnac gyroscopes at the forefront for fundamental physics, in particular for tests of general relativity and Lorentz violation, where the sensitivity plays the key role to provide reliable data for deeper theoretical investigations. The achieved sensitivity overcomes the conventionally expected one for Sagnac ring laser gyroscopes., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, regular paper

A haloscope of the QUAX--$a\gamma$ experiment composed of an oxygen-free high thermal conductivity-Cu cavity inside an 8.1 T magnet and cooled to $\sim200$ mK is put in operation for the search of galactic axion with mass $m_a\simeq43~\mu\text{eV}$. The power emitted by the resonant cavity is amplified with a Josephson parametric amplifier whose noise fluctuations are at the standard quantum limit. With the data collected in about 1 h at the cavity frequency $\nu_c=10.40176$ GHz, the experiment reaches the sensitivity necessary for the detection of galactic QCD-axion, setting the $90\%$ confidence level limit to the axion-photon coupling $g_{a\gamma\gamma}<0.639\times10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Analysis method changed. The result is almost left unchanged. Consequently, text has been revised in the Analysis section. Added references. Added equations (2), (4), (5)

Spin-dependent fifth-forces are associated with particles beyond the standard model. In particular, light pseudo-scalar bosons mediate long-range forces, allowing mass to interact with spins. The search of these interactions can be performed by periodically varying the distance between a source mass and a spin ensemble, in order to modulate the force intensity and detect it with precision magnetometry techniques. In our setup the force arises from room temperature lead masses and is detected in a paramagnetic crystal at 4.2\,K, whose magnetisation is monitored by a SQUID-based magnetometer with the sensitivity of $53\,\mathrm{aT/\sqrt{Hz}}$. Our measurement places the most stringent constraints on a spin-mass interaction in the ranges 1\,cm to 10\,m and 10\,km to 300\,km, improving existing limits up to more than two orders of magnitude. We show that this experimental technique may be further leveraged to explore a vast region of the fifth force's parameter space, with an interaction range longer than a few centimetres., Comment: 5 figures, 10 pages

Using the construction of the Fermi frame, the field of a gravitational wave can be described in terms of gravito-electromagnetic fields that are transverse to the propagation direction and orthogonal to each other. In particular, the gravito-magnetic field acts on spinning particles and we show that, due to the action of the gravitational wave field, a new phenomenon, that we call gravito-magnetic resonance, may appear. We give both a classical and a quantum description of this phenomenon and suggest that it can be used as the basis for a new type of gravitational wave detectors. Our results highlight the effectiveness of collective spin excitations, e.g. spin waves in magnetized materials, in detecting high frequency gravitational waves. Here we suggest that, when gravitational waves induce a precession of the electron spin, power is released in the ferromagnetic resonant mode endowed with quadrupole symmetry of a magnetized sphere. This offers a possible path to the detection of the gravito-magnetic effects of a gravitational wave., Comment: 6 pages

We report the analysis of paired photon pulses arising from two cascading transitions in continuously pumped Erbium-doped YLiF$_4$ 1% and 0.01% crystals at 1.6 K. The dependence of the pulse peak intensity on the squared number of involved Erbium ions, between 10$^{11}$ and 10$^{13}$, definitely identifies the cooperative nature of the two pulsed emissions, that are generated by the subsequent, spontaneous formation of coherent states. The observed fluctuations of the time interval between the paired pulses and, most importantly, its correlation with the second pulse duration, demonstrate that the Erbium ions coherence is indeed seeded by vacuum fluctuations.

A photon-magnon hybrid system can be realised by coupling the electron spin resonance of a magnetic material to a microwave cavity mode. The quasiparticles associated with the system dynamics are the cavity magnon polaritons, which arise from the mixing of strongly coupled magnons and photons. We illustrate how these particles can be used to probe the magnetisation of a sample with a remarkable sensitivity, devising suitable spin-magnetometers which ultimately can be used to directly assess oscillating magnetic fields. Specifically, the capability of cavity magnon polaritons of converting magnetic excitations to electromagnetic ones, allows for translating to magnetism the quantum-limited sensitivity reached by state-of-the-art electronics. Here we employ hybrid systems composed of microwave cavities and ferrimagnetic spheres, to experimentally implement two types of novel spin-magnetometers., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures