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Cross-correlation measurement techniques for cavity-based axion and weakly interacting slim particle searches

Abstract:

Weakly Interacting Slim Particles (WISPs), such as axions, are highly motivated dark matter candidates. The most sensitive experimental searches for these particles exploit WISP-to-photon conversion mechanisms and use resonant cavity structures to enhance the resulting power signal. For WISPs to constitute Cold Dark Matter their required masses correspond to photons in the microwave spectrum. As such, searches for these types of WISPs are primarily limited by the thermal cavity noise and the broadband first-stage amplifier noise. In this work we propose and then verify two cross-correlation measurement techniques for cavity-based WISP searches. These are two channel measurement schemes where the cross-spectrum is computed, rejecting uncorrelated noise sources while still retaining correlated signals such as those generated by WISPs. The first technique allows for the cavity thermal spectrum to be observed with an enhanced resolution. The second technique cross-correlates two individual cavity/amplifier systems that can be spatially well-separated, thereby opening up opportunities for characterizing candidate dark matter WISP signals.