Macroscopic dark matter detection with gravitational wave experiments

Abstract

We study signatures of macroscopic dark matter (DM) in current and future gravitational wave (GW) experiments. Transiting DM with a mass of ∼10⁵–10¹⁵  kg that saturates the local DM density can be potentially detectable by GW detectors, depending on the baseline of the detector and the strength of the force mediating the interaction. In the context of laser interferometers, we derive the gauge invariant observable due to a transiting DM, including the Shapiro effect (gravitational time delay accumulated during the photon propagation), and adequately account for the finite photon travel time within an interferometer arm. In particular, we find that the Shapiro effect can be dominant for short-baseline interferometers such as Holometer and GQuEST. We also find that proposed experiments such as Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope can constrain a fifth force between DM and baryons, at the level of strength ∼10³ times stronger than gravity for, e.g., kg mass DM with a fifth-force range of 10⁶  m.

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