1. Probing Spin-2 Ultralight Dark Matter with Space-based Gravitational Wave Detectors in Millihertz
- Author
-
Zhang, Jing-Rui, Chen, Ju, Jiao, Heng-Sen, Cai, Rong-Gen, and Zhang, Yun-Long
- Subjects
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics ,High Energy Physics - Phenomenology - Abstract
Spin-2 ultralight dark matter (ULDM) is a viable dark matter candidate and it can be constrained using gravitational wave (GW) observations. In this paper, we investigate the detectability of spin-2 ULDM by space-based GW interferometers. By considering a direct coupling between spin-2 ULDM and ordinary matter, we derive the corresponding response functions and sensitivity curves for various time-delay interferometry channels and calculate the optimal sensitivity curves for future millihertz GW detectors. Our results demonstrate that the space-based detectors can place stringent constraints on the coupling constant of spin-2 ULDM, reaching $\alpha \sim 10^{-10}$ around a mass of $m \sim 10^{-17} \rm eV$, surpassing current limits from ground-based detectors and pulsar timing arrays. Thus, the space-based GW detectors can serve as powerful tools not only for detecting GWs but also for probing fundamental properties of ultralight dark matter., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures
- Published
- 2025