AEDGE: Atomic experiment for dark matter and gravity exploration in space

Andrea Bertoldi (1) , Kai Bongs , Philippe Bouyer (1) , Oliver Buchmueller , Benjamin Canuel (1) , Laurentiu-Ioan Caramete , Maria Luisa Chiofalo , Jonathon Coleman , Albert de Roeck , John Ellis , Peter W. Graham , Martin G. Haehnelt , Aurélien Hees (2) , Jason Hogan , Wolf von Klitzing , Markus Krutzik , Marek Lewicki , Christopher Mccabe , Achim Peters , Ernst Rasel , Albert Roura , Dylan Sabulsky (1) , Stephan Schiller , Christian Schubert , Carla Signorini , Fiodor Sorrentino , Yeshpal Singh , Guglielmo Maria Tino , Ville Vaskonen , Ming-Sheng Zhan

1 LP2N - Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences
2 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace

This article contains a summary of the White Paper submitted in 2019 to the ESA Voyage 2050 process, which was subsequently published in EPJ Quantum Technology (AEDGE Collaboration et al. EPJ Quant. Technol. 7,6 2020). We propose in this White Paper a concept for a space experiment using cold atoms to search for ultra-light dark matter, and to detect gravitational waves in the frequency range between the most sensitive ranges of LISA and the terrestrial LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA/INDIGO experiments. This interdisciplinary experiment, called Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration (AEDGE), will also complement other planned searches for dark matter, and exploit synergies with other gravitational wave detectors. We give examples of the extended range of sensitivity to ultra-light dark matter offered by AEDGE, and how its gravitational-wave measurements could explore the assembly of super-massive black holes, first-order phase transitions in the early universe and cosmic strings. AEDGE will be based upon technologies now being developed for terrestrial experiments using cold atoms, and will benefit from the space experience obtained with, e.g., LISA and cold atom experiments in microgravity.

Mots clés: Dark matter; Dark energy; Gravitational waves; Quantum technology; dark matter: parametrization; gravitational radiation; atom; LISA; gravitational radiation detector; gravitation; critical phenomena; black hole; LIGO: sensitivity; VIRGO; KAGRA; dark energy: parametrization; cosmic string

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Andrea Bertoldi, Kai Bongs, Philippe Bouyer, Oliver Buchmueller, Benjamin Canuel, et al.. AEDGE: Atomic experiment for dark matter and gravity exploration in space. Exper.Astron., 2021, 51 (3), pp.1417-1426. ⟨10.1007/s10686-021-09701-3⟩. ⟨hal-03419133⟩