High-Frequency Gravitational Wave Search with ABRACADABRA-10,cm
hep-ex, astro-ph.CO, gr-qc, hep-ph
Submitted: 2025-05-05
Updated: 2026-09-02
Comments: In this version of the paper, the framing has been updated and the presentation of data improved for publication
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The gist: High-frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs), above 10 kHz, promise a clean probe of new physics, largely free of the astrophysical backgrounds that complicate lower-frequency searches.
Terminology
Abstract
High-frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs), above 10 kHz, promise a clean probe of new physics, largely free of the astrophysical backgrounds that complicate lower-frequency searches. Axion detectors, which search for axion dark matter via its coupling to electrodynamics in a strong magnetic field, should also be sensitive to HFGWs. We present the first dedicated search for HFGWs, using a modified ABRA-10cm axion detector, ABRA-GW, that runs simultaneously with a conventional axion search. ABRA-GW opens the 10 kHz-5 MHz band to HFGW searches and performs the first transient search by an axion experiment, targeting primordial black hole (PBH) mergers. Axion sensitivity is unaffected by the added gravitational-wave channel, and HFGW sensitivity matches theoretical expectations. This work demonstrates the broad physics reach of axion detectors and represents a first step toward a potential HFGW discovery.
Sources
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- Axion Dark Matter
- Status of DMRadio-50L and DMRadio-m$^3$
- Electromagnetic modeling and science reach of DMRadio-m$^3$
- Broadband Axion Dark Matter Haloscopes via Electric Sensing
- Modified Axion Electrodynamics as Impressed Electromagnetic Sources Through Oscillating Background Polarization and Magnetization
- Solutions to Axion Electrodynamics in Various Geometries
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- MAGO$\,$2.0: Electromagnetic Cavities as Mechanical Bars for Gravitational Waves
- Magnets are Weber Bar Gravitational Wave Detectors
- A deep search for decaying dark matter with XMM-Newton blank-sky observations
- Dark Matter Interferometry
- Fast Direct Methods for Gaussian Processes
- Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics
- Modeling Smooth Backgrounds and Generic Localized Signals with Gaussian Processes
- Power-Constrained Limits