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Pulsar Polarization Array Limits on Ultralight Axionlike Dark Matter

Xiao Xue1,2,3,*, Shi Dai4,*, Hoang Nhan Luu5, Tao Liu6,†, Jing Ren7,8,‡, Jing Shu9,8,10, Yue Zhao6, Andrew Zic4, N. D. Ramesh Bhat11 et al. (PPTA Collaboration)

N. D. Ramesh Bhat11, Zu-Cheng Chen12,13, Yi Feng14, George Hobbs4, Agastya Kapur4, Richard N. Manchester4, Rami Mandow15,4, Saurav Mishra16, Daniel J. Reardon16,17, Christopher J. Russell18, Ryan M. Shannon16,17, Shuangqiang Wang19,20, Lei Zhang21,16, Songbo Zhang22,4, and Xingjiang Zhu23,24,25 (PPTA Collaboration)

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: taoliu@ust.hk
  • ‡Contact author: renjing@ihep.ac.cn

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 011001 – Published 7 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mptv-3x6g

Abstract

We conduct the first-ever pulsar polarization array (PPA) analysis to detect the ultralight axionlike dark matter (ALDM) using the polarization data of 22 millisecond pulsars from the third data release of Parkes pulsar timing array. As one of the major dark matter candidates, the ultralight ALDM exhibits a pronounced wave nature on astronomical scales and offers a promising solution to small-scale structure issues within local galaxies. While the linearly polarized pulsar light travels through the ALDM galactic halo, its position angle (PA) can be subject to an oscillation induced by the ALDM Chern-Simons coupling with electromagnetic field. The PPA is thus especially suited for detecting the ultralight ALDM by correlating polarization data across the arrayed pulsars. To accomplish this task, we develop an advanced Bayesian analysis framework that allows us to construct pulsar PA residual time series, model noise contributions properly and search for pulsar cross-correlations. We find that for an ALDM density of ρ0=0.4  GeV/cm3, the Parkes PPA offers the best global limits on the ALDM Chern-Simons coupling, namely ≲10−13.5−10−12.2  GeV−1, for the mass range of 10−22–10−21  eV. The crucial role of pulsar cross-correlation in recognizing the nature of the derived limits is also highlighted.

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