- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Hunting axion dark matter with antiferromagnets: A case study with nickel oxide

Pier Giuseppe Catinari1,2,*, Angelo Esposito1,2,†, and Shashin Pavaskar3,4,‡

  • *Contact author: piergiuseppe.catinari@uniroma1.it
  • †Contact author: angelo.esposito@uniroma1.it
  • ‡Contact author: pavaskar@illinois.edu
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 112, 035007 – Published 5 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/k6pg-bkwh

Abstract

We show that nickel oxide, which is already a very promising target to look for sub-MeV dark matter scattering, can be employed to hunt axion dark matter, with masses in the meV range and couplings to electrons allowing them to potentially be QCD axions. We describe the interactions between axions and the collective excitations of nickel oxide in terms of an effective field theory, built solely out of symmetry arguments. The processes of conversion into one or two excitations provide, respectively, a narrow band and a broadband channel for the axion search, and the possibility of varying an external magnetic field up to a phase transition point allows one to cover a large portion of a yet unexplored parameter space, reaching axion masses down to few fractions of an meV. Our results underline nickel oxide as an ideal candidate for a multipurpose target for light dark matter searches.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

See Also

Effective field theory for anisotropic antiferromagnets: Gapped Goldstone bosons, pseudo-Goldstone excitations, and phase transitions

Pier Giuseppe Catinari, Angelo Esposito, and Shashin Pavaskar
Phys. Rev. B 112, 064408 (2025)

Article Text

References (71)

  1. D. S. Akerib et al. (LUX Collaboration), Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 021303 (2017).
  2. R. Agnese et al. (SuperCDMS Collaboration), First dark matter constraints from a SuperCDMS single-charge sensitive detector, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 051301 (2018); 122, 069901(E) (2019).
  3. E. Aprile et al. (XENON Collaboration), Light dark matter search with ionization signals in XENON1T, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 251801 (2019).
  4. A. H. Abdelhameed et al. (CRESST Collaboration), First results from the CRESST-III low-mass dark matter program, Phys. Rev. D 100, 102002 (2019).
  5. Qiuhong Wang et al. (PandaX-II Collaboration), Results of dark matter search using the full PandaX-II exposure, Chin. Phys. C 44, 125001 (2020).
  6. R. Barbieri, C. Braggio, G. Carugno, C. S. Gallo, A. Lombardi, A. Ortolan, R. Pengo, G. Ruoso, and C. C. Speake, Searching for galactic axions through magnetized media: The QUAX proposal, Phys. Dark Universe 15, 135 (2017).
  7. N. Crescini et al. (QUAX Collaboration), Axion search with a quantum-limited ferromagnetic haloscope, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 171801 (2020).
  8. Chiara P. Salemi et al., Search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10 cm, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 081801 (2021).
  9. C. Bartram et al. (ADMX Collaboration), Search for invisible axion dark matter in the 3.3–4.2  μeV mass range, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 261803 (2021).
  10. C. Bartram et al., Axion dark matter experiment around 3.3  μeV with Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky discovery ability, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 111002 (2025).
  11. A. Rettaroli et al. (QUAX Collaboration), Search for axion dark matter with the QUAX–LNF tunable haloscope, Phys. Rev. D 110, 022008 (2024).
  12. K. Altenmüller et al. (CAST Collaboration), A new upper limit on the axion-photon coupling with an extended CAST run with a Xe-based Micromegas detector, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 221005 (2024).
  13. H. Yan, G. A. Sun, S. M. Peng, H. Guo, B. Q. Liu, M. Peng, and H. Zheng, Constraining exotic spin dependent interactions of muons and electrons, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 971 (2019).
  14. E. Aprile et al. (XENON Collaboration), Search for new physics in electronic recoil data from XENONnT, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 161805 (2022).
  15. Francesco Capozzi and Georg Raffelt, Axion and neutrino bounds improved with new calibrations of the tip of the red-giant branch using geometric distance determinations, Phys. Rev. D 102, 083007 (2020).
  16. Ciaran O’Hare, Cajohare/axionlimits: Axionlimits, 10.5281/zenodo.3932430 (2020).
  17. Wei Guo and Daniel N. McKinsey, Concept for a dark matter detector using liquid Helium-4, Phys. Rev. D 87, 115001 (2013).
  18. Yonit Hochberg, Tongyan Lin, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Detecting ultralight bosonic dark matter via absorption in superconductors, Phys. Rev. D 94, 015019 (2016).
  19. Katelin Schutz and Kathryn M. Zurek, Detectability of light dark matter with superfluid helium, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 121302 (2016).
  20. Simon Knapen, Tongyan Lin, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Light dark matter in superfluid helium: Detection with multi-excitation production, Phys. Rev. D 95, 056019 (2017).
  21. Yonit Hochberg, Tongyan Lin, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Absorption of light dark matter in semiconductors, Phys. Rev. D 95, 023013 (2017).
  22. Simon Knapen, Tongyan Lin, Matt Pyle, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Detection of light dark matter with optical phonons in polar materials, Phys. Lett. B 785, 386 (2018).
  23. S. A. Hertel, A. Biekert, J. Lin, V. Velan, and D. N. McKinsey, Direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter using a superfluid He4 target, Phys. Rev. D 100, 092007 (2019).
  24. Sinead Griffin, Simon Knapen, Tongyan Lin, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Directional detection of light dark matter with polar materials, Phys. Rev. D 98, 115034 (2018).
  25. David J. E. Marsh, Kin-Chung Fong, Erik W. Lentz, Liboř Smejkal, and Mazhar N. Ali, Proposal to detect dark matter using axionic topological antiferromagnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 121601 (2019).
  26. Francesca Acanfora, Angelo Esposito, and Antonio D. Polosa, Sub-GeV dark matter in superfluid He-4: An effective theory approach, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 549 (2019).
  27. Tanner Trickle, Zhengkang Zhang, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Detecting light dark matter with magnons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 201801 (2020).
  28. Andrea Caputo, Angelo Esposito, and Antonio D. Polosa, Sub-MeV dark matter and the Goldstone modes of superfluid helium, Phys. Rev. D 100, 116007 (2019).
  29. Andrea Caputo, Angelo Esposito, Emma Geoffray, Antonio D. Polosa, and Sichun Sun, Dark matter, dark photon and superfluid He-4 from effective field theory, Phys. Lett. B 802, 135258 (2020).
  30. Tanner Trickle, Zhengkang Zhang, Kathryn M. Zurek, Katherine Inzani, and Sinéad M. Griffin, Multi-channel direct detection of light dark matter: Theoretical framework, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2020) 036.
  31. Sinéad M. Griffin, Katherine Inzani, Tanner Trickle, Zhengkang Zhang, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Multichannel direct detection of light dark matter: Target comparison, Phys. Rev. D 101, 055004 (2020).
  32. Gordon Baym, D. H. Beck, Jeffrey P. Filippini, C. J. Pethick, and Jessie Shelton, Searching for low mass dark matter via phonon creation in superfluid He4, Phys. Rev. D 102, 035014 (2020); 104, 019901(E) (2021).
  33. Andrea Mitridate, Tanner Trickle, Zhengkang Zhang, and Kathryn M. Zurek, Detectability of axion dark matter with phonon polaritons and magnons, Phys. Rev. D 102, 095005 (2020).
  34. So Chigusa, Takeo Moroi, and Kazunori Nakayama, Detecting light boson dark matter through conversion into a magnon, Phys. Rev. D 101, 096013 (2020).
  35. Andrea Caputo, Angelo Esposito, Fulvio Piccinini, Antonio D. Polosa, and Giuseppe Rossi, Directional detection of light dark matter from three-phonon events in superfluid He4, Phys. Rev. D 103, 055017 (2021).
  36. Konstantin T. Matchev, Jordan Smolinsky, Wei Xue, and Yining You, Superfluid effective field theory for dark matter direct detection, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2022) 034.
  37. Yining You, Jordan Smolinsky, Wei Xue, Konstantin T. Matchev, Keegan Gunther, Yoonseok Lee, and Tarek Saab, Signatures and detection prospects for sub-GeV dark matter with superfluid helium, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2023) 009.
  38. Brian Campbell-Deem, Simon Knapen, Tongyan Lin, and Ethan Villarama, Dark matter direct detection from the single phonon to the nuclear recoil regime, Phys. Rev. D 106, 036019 (2022).
  39. Angelo Esposito and Shashin Pavaskar, Optimal antiferromagnets for light dark matter detection, Phys. Rev. D 108, L011901 (2023).
  40. Asher Berlin, Alexander J. Millar, Tanner Trickle, and Kevin Zhou, Physical signatures of fermion-coupled axion dark matter, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2024) 314.
  41. So Chigusa, Dan Kondo, Hitoshi Murayama, Risshin Okabe, and Hiroyuki Sudo, Axion detection via superfluid He3 ferromagnetic phase and quantum measurement techniques, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2024) 191.
  42. Yonatan Kahn and Tongyan Lin, Searches for light dark matter using condensed matter systems, Rep. Prog. Phys. 85, 066901 (2022).
  43. Kathryn M. Zurek, Dark matter candidates of a very low mass, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 74, 287 (2024).
  44. Mo T. Hutchings and E. J. Samuelsen, Measurement of spin-wave dispersion in nio by inelastic neutron scattering and its relation to magnetic properties, Phys. Rev. B 6, 3447 (1972).
  45. J. Milano, L. B. Steren, and M. Grimsditch, Effect of dipolar interaction on the antiferromagnetic resonance spectra of NiO, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 077601 (2004).
  46. Sergio M. Rezende, Antonio Azevedo, and Roberto L. Rodríguez-Suárez, Introduction to antiferromagnetic magnons, J. Appl. Phys. 126, 151101 (2019).
  47. Premala Chandra, Piers Coleman, and AI Larkin, A quantum fluids approach to frustrated Heisenberg models, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 2, 7933 (1990).
  48. C. P. Burgess, Goldstone and pseudoGoldstone bosons in nuclear, particle and condensed matter physics, Phys. Rep. 330, 193 (2000).
  49. Shashin Pavaskar, Riccardo Penco, and Ira Z. Rothstein, An effective field theory of magneto-elasticity, SciPost Phys. 12, 155 (2022).
  50. Tomáś Brauner, Effective Field Theory for Spontaneously Broken Symmetry (Springer, Cham, 2024), 10.1007/978-3-031-48378-3.
  51. Pier Giuseppe Catinari, Angelo Esposito, and Shashin Pavaskar, companion paper, Effective field theory for anisotropic antiferromagnets: Gapped Goldstone bosons, pseudo-Goldstone excitations, and phase transitions, Phys. Rev. B 112, 064408 (2025).
  52. J. R. Tomlinson, L. Domash, R. G. Hay, and C. W. Montgomery, The high temperature heat content of nickel oxide, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 77, 909 (1955).
  53. Karthik Kannan, Devi Radhika, Kishor Kumar Sadasivuni, Kakarla Raghava Reddy, and Anjanapura V. Raghu, Nanostructured metal oxides and its hybrids for photocatalytic and biomedical applications, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 281, 102178 (2020).
  54. H Leutwyler, Nonrelativistic effective Lagrangians, Phys. Rev. D 49, 3033 (1994).
  55. F. L. A. Machado, P. R. T. Ribeiro, J. Holanda, R. L. Rodríguez-Suárez, A. Azevedo, and S. M. Rezende, Spin-flop transition in the easy-plane antiferromagnet nickel oxide, Phys. Rev. B 95, 104418 (2017).
  56. Gordan Krnjaic, Duncan Rocha, and Tanner Trickle, The non-relativistic effective field theory of dark matter-electron interactions, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2025) 165.
  57. Zihang Wang and Lijing Shao, Axion induced spin effective couplings, Phys. Rev. D 103, 116021 (2021).
  58. Til Piffl et al., The RAVE survey: The Galactic escape speed and the mass of the Milky Way, Astron. Astrophys. 562, A91 (2014).
  59. Giacomo Monari, Benoit Famaey, Ismael Carrillo, Tilmann Piffl, Matthias Steinmetz, Rosemary F. G. Wyse, Friedrich Anders, Cristina Chiappini, and Katja Janssen, The escape speed curve of the galaxy obtained from Gaia DR2 implies a heavy Milky Way, Astron. Astrophys. 616, L9 (2018).
  60. Xiaowei Ou, Anna-Christina Eilers, Lina Necib, and Anna Frebel, The dark matter profile of the Milky Way inferred from its circular velocity curve, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 528, 693 (2024).
  61. S. P. Bayrakci, T. Keller, K. Habicht, and B. Keimer, Spin-wave lifetimes throughout the brillouin zone, Science 312, 1926 (2006).
  62. S. P. Bayrakci, D. A. Tennant, Ph. Leininger, T. Keller, M. C. R. Gibson, S. D. Wilson, R. J. Birgeneau, and B. Keimer, Lifetimes of antiferromagnetic magnons in two and three dimensions: Experiment, theory, and numerics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 017204 (2013).
  63. David N. Spergel, The motion of the earth and the detection of wimps, Phys. Rev. D 37, 1353 (1988).
  64. F. Mayet et al., A review of the discovery reach of directional dark matter detection, Phys. Rep. 627, 1 (2016).
  65. Igor G. Irastorza and Javier Redondo, New experimental approaches in the search for axion-like particles, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 102, 89 (2018).
  66. Luca Di Luzio, Maurizio Giannotti, Enrico Nardi, and Luca Visinelli, The landscape of QCD axion models, Phys. Rep. 870, 1 (2020).
  67. F. Bianchini, G. Grilli di Cortona, and M. Valli, The QCD axion: Some like it hot, Phys. Rev. D 110, 123527 (2024).
  68. Marcelo M. Miller Bertolami, Brenda E. Melendez, Leandro G. Althaus, and Jordi Isern, Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 10 (2014) 069.
  69. Andrea Caputo and Georg Raffelt, Astrophysical axion bounds: The 2024 edition, Proc. Sci. COSMICWISPers (2024) 041 [arXiv:2401.13728].
  70. Giacomo Marocco and John Wheater, Spin-dependent dark matter scattering in quasi-two-dimensional magnets, arXiv:2501.18120.
  71. Hun-Ho Kim, Kentaro Ueda, Suguru Nakata, Peter Wochner, Andrew Mackenzie, Clifford Hicks, Giniyat Khaliullin, Huimei Liu, Bernhard Keimer, and Matteo Minola, Giant stress response of terahertz magnons in a spin-orbit Mott insulator, Nat. Commun. 13, 6674 (2022).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 035007– Published 5 August, 2025
  • Received 26 November 2024
  • Accepted 14 July 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation