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  • Open Access

Pulsar timing detection of ultralight vector dark matter

Jeff A. Dror* and Qiushi Wei†

  • Institute for Fundamental Theory, Physics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA

  • *Contact author: jeffdror@ufl.edu
  • †Contact author: q.wei@ufl.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 075024 – Published 15 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hh8p-gmxl

Abstract

Ultralight vector dark matter induces metric fluctuations that generate timing residuals in the arrival times of pulsar emissions through two distinct modes: a fast mode, sourced by coherent field oscillations, and a slow mode, arising from interference patterns. These modes enable the detection of vector dark matter with masses m∼10−24–10−22  eV and m∼10−18–10−16  eV, respectively, using pulsar timing arrays. While previous studies have explored the fast mode, they neglect the full statistical treatment of the vector field and a precise treatment of its polarization structure. In this work, we investigate the timing residuals from both modes, fully accounting for the statistical properties of ultralight vector dark matter, assuming equipartition among its three polarization states. The two-point correlation functions of timing residuals that we derive serve as direct tools for identifying vector dark matter signatures as a stochastic background in pulsar timing data.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 075024– Published 15 October, 2025
  • Received 15 June 2025
  • Accepted 15 September 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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