Probing quadratically coupled ultralight dark matter with pulsar timing arrays
Abstract
Ultralight dark matter may couple quadratically to Standard Model particles. Such quadratic interactions give rise to both coherent and stochastic signals in pulsar timing array (PTA) observations. In this work, we characterize these signals, including the effects of dark matter propagation in a finite-density medium, and assess the sensitivity of current and upcoming PTA observations to their detection. For coherent signals, we find that the sensitivity of current PTA observations competes with and sometimes exceeds that of other probes, such as equivalence principle tests and atomic clocks. For stochastic signals, we find that PTA sensitivities underperform equivalence principle constraints for both existing and upcoming PTA datasets.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 6
- Publication date
- 29 January 2026
- Language
- EN