- 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

Distinguishing monochromatic signals in LISA and Taiji: Ultralight dark matter versus gravitational waves

Heng-Tao Xu1,2,3, Yue-Hui Yao3,4,†, Yong Tang1,3,4,*, and Yue-Liang Wu1,2,3,4

  • *Contact author: tangy@ucas.ac.cn
  • †Contact author: yaoyuehui21@mails.ucas.ac.cn
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 112, 095021 – Published 14 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xlqy-r6n3

Abstract

Ultralight dark matter (ULDM) is an attractive candidate for cold dark matter, one of the main mysterious components of the Universe. Recent studies suggest that gravitational wave (GW) laser interferometers can also detect bosonic ULDM fields, which would produce monochromatic signals resembling those from GWs. Distinguishing between these potential origins therefore would be essential. In this work, we develop a method to address this challenge for space-based GW interferometers (such as LISA and Taiji) by utilizing the null-response channel (NRC) in interferometric combinations, a channel constructed to have zero response to a specific type of source from a given direction. We find that while the GW NRC remains blind to GWs from a specific direction, it still responds to ULDM, particularly at frequencies above the interferometer’s critical frequency. The ULDM NRC exhibits similar behavior. Based on these observations, we outline a test procedure to discriminate between signal origins. Our method provides a new diagnostic tool for analyzing monochromatic signals in space-based GW interferometers, potentially expanding the scientific scope of future missions.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (64)

  1. B. P. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016).
  2. M. Punturo et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 27, 194002 (2010).
  3. D. Reitze et al., Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 51, 035 (2019).
  4. P. A.-S. et al., arXiv:1702.00786.
  5. W.-R. Hu and Y.-L. Wu, Natl. Sci. Rev. 4, 685 (2017).
  6. J. Luo et al., Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 035010 (2016).
  7. A. Pierce, K. Riles, and Y. Zhao, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 061102 (2018).
  8. S. Morisaki and T. Suyama, Phys. Rev. D 100, 123512 (2019).
  9. H. Grote and Y. V. Stadnik, Phys. Rev. Res. 1, 033187 (2019).
  10. H.-K. Guo, K. Riles, F.-W. Yang, and Y. Zhao, Communications in Physics 2, 155 (2019).
  11. S. M. Vermeulen et al., Nature (London) 600, 424 (2021).
  12. K. Fukusumi, S. Morisaki, and T. Suyama, Phys. Rev. D 108, 095054 (2023).
  13. H. Kim, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2023) 018.
  14. J.-C. Yu, Y. Cao, Y. Tang, and Y.-L. Wu, Phys. Rev. D 110, 023025 (2024).
  15. J.-C. Yu, Y.-H. Yao, Y. Tang, and Y.-L. Wu, Phys. Rev. D 108, 083007 (2023).
  16. Y.-H. Yao and Y. Tang, Phys. Rev. D 110, 095015 (2024).
  17. J. Gué, A. Hees, and P. Wolf, Classical Quantum Gravity 42, 055015 (2025).
  18. Y.-H. Yao, T. Jiang, and Y. Tang, Phys. Rev. D 111, 055031 (2025).
  19. R.-M. Yao, X.-J. Bi, P.-F. Yin, and Q.-G. Huang, arXiv:2504.10083.
  20. J.-R. Zhang, J. Chen, H.-S. Jiao, R.-G. Cai, and Y.-L. Zhang, Phys. Rev. D 112, 064030 (2025).
  21. Y. Manita, H. Takeda, K. Aoki, T. Fujita, and S. Mukohyama, Phys. Rev. D 109, 095012 (2024).
  22. T. Ai, Y. He, J. Liu, X. Ma, and X.-P. Wang, Phys. Rev. D 110, 115026 (2024).
  23. A. Marriott-Best, M. Peloso, and G. Tasinato, Phys. Rev. D 111, 103511 (2025).
  24. H. Su, B. Xu, J. Chen, C. Liu, and Y.-L. Zhang, Commun. Theor. Phys. 77, 115403 (2025).
  25. D. Blas, S. Gasparotto, and R. Vicente, Phys. Rev. D 111, 042008 (2025).
  26. K. Nomura, J. Soda, K. Ueda, and Z. Wang, arXiv:2409.10471.
  27. M.-C. Chen and Y. Tang, Phys. Rev. D 112, 043033 (2025).
  28. C. Feng, Y. Tang, and Y.-L. Wu, arXiv:2506.02937.
  29. R. D. Peccei and H. R. Quinn, Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 1440 (1977).
  30. S. Weinberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 223 (1978).
  31. F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 279 (1978).
  32. J. Preskill, M. B. Wise, and F. Wilczek, Phys. Lett. 120B, 127 (1983).
  33. M. Dine and W. Fischler, Phys. Lett. 120B, 137 (1983).
  34. T. Damour and A. M. Polyakov, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 26, 1171 (1994).
  35. T. Damour and A. M. Polyakov, Nucl. Phys. B423, 532 (1994).
  36. S. Capozziello and M. De Laurentis, Phys. Rep. 509, 167 (2011).
  37. A. E. Nelson and J. Scholtz, Phys. Rev. D 84, 103501 (2011).
  38. P. W. Graham, J. Mardon, and S. Rajendran, Phys. Rev. D 93, 103520 (2016).
  39. Y. Ema, K. Nakayama, and Y. Tang, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2019) 060.
  40. M. Cirelli, A. Strumia, and J. Zupan, arXiv:2406.01705.
  41. L. Hui, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 59, 247 (2021).
  42. E. G. M. Ferreira, Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 29, 7 (2021).
  43. A. L. Miller and L. Mendes, Phys. Rev. D 107, 063015 (2023).
  44. D. W. P. Amaral, M. Jain, M. A. Amin, and C. Tunnell, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 06 (2024) 050.
  45. B. S. Sathyaprakash and B. F. Schutz, Living Rev. Relativity 12, 2 (2009).
  46. M. Tinto and S. L. Larson, Phys. Rev. D 70, 062002 (2004).
  47. R. C. Barroso, Y. Lemière, F. Mauger, and Q. Baghi, Classical Quantum Gravity 42, 115016 (2025).
  48. S. Babak, A. Petiteau, and M. Hewitson, arXiv:2108.01167.
  49. F. B. Estabrook, M. Tinto, and J. W. Armstrong, Phys. Rev. D 62, 042002 (2000).
  50. S. V. Dhurandhar, K. R. Nayak, and J.-Y. Vinet, Phys. Rev. D 65, 102002 (2002).
  51. M. Vallisneri, Phys. Rev. D 72, 042003 (2005).
  52. M. Tinto and S. V. Dhurandhar, Living Rev. Relativity 24, 1 (2021).
  53. G. Wang, W.-T. Ni, W.-B. Han, and C.-F. Qiao, Phys. Rev. D 103, 122006 (2021).
  54. T. A. Prince, M. Tinto, S. L. Larson, and J. W. Armstrong, Phys. Rev. D 66, 122002 (2002).
  55. A. Derevianko, Phys. Rev. A 97, 042506 (2018).
  56. J. W. Foster, N. L. Rodd, and B. R. Safdi, Phys. Rev. D 97, 123006 (2018).
  57. D. Y. Cheong, N. L. Rodd, and L.-T. Wang, Phys. Rev. D 111, 015028 (2025).
  58. A. Khmelnitsky and V. Rubakov, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2014) 019.
  59. http://healpix.sourceforge.net.
  60. K. M. Górski, E. Hivon, A. J. Banday, B. D. Wandelt, F. K. Hansen, M. Reinecke, and M. Bartelmann, Astrophys. J. 622, 759 (2005).
  61. A. Zonca, L. Singer, D. Lenz, M. Reinecke, C. Rosset, E. Hivon, and K. Gorski, J. Open Source Software 4, 1298 (2019).
  62. T. B. Littenberg and N. J. Cornish, Phys. Rev. D 107, 063004 (2023).
  63. H. Xu, Raw data associated with the paper “distinguishing monochromatic signals in lisa and taiji: Ultralight dark matter versus gravitational waves”, 10.5281/zenodo.17448354 (2025).
  64. O. Hartwig, M. Lilley, M. Muratore, and M. Pieroni, Phys. Rev. D 107, 123531 (2023).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 095021– Published 14 November, 2025
  • Received 19 June 2025
  • Accepted 23 October 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