Ultralight Scalar and Axion Dark Matter Detection with Long-Baseline Atom Interferometers

Detecting dark matter remains one of the most challenging problems in modern physics. We propose a method to detect the coupling of ultralight scalar dark matter to quarks and gluons, as well as the coupling of ultralight axion dark matter to gluons, using long-baseline atom interferometers. Interactions between ultralight scalar and axion dark matter with quarks and gluons can induce oscillations in nuclear charge radii, consequently causing oscillations in atomic transition frequencies. We calculate the differential phase shift produced by these dark matter interactions in long-baseline atom interferometers, presenting constraints on the scalar dark matter coupling parameters d_g and d_\hatm, as well as on the axion dark matter coupling parameter 1/f_a. Our results are anticipated to improve existing bounds and complement bounds from other experiments.