Geomagnetic Constraints on Millicharged Dark Matter

Millicharged particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates arising in many extensions of the standard model. We show that, despite their tiny coupling e_{m} to photons, millicharged dark matter (mDM) in the Earth's geomagnetic field can generate a quasistatic, monochromatic magnetic signal with angular frequency twice the mDM mass. Using null results from the SuperMAG and SNIPE Hunt collaborations, we constrain the effective charge of bosonic mDM in the mass range 10^{-18}-10^{-14} eV. The resulting upper bounds exceed stellar cooling constraints by over 13 orders of magnitude, demonstrating the power of this method.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Letters
Published
2025-12-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/8xqd-dbrz
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.87
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article

Geomagnetic Constraints on Millicharged Dark Matter

Karl J. Friston
1 citations
Physical Review Letters
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
1.87
article

Geomagnetic Constraints on Millicharged Dark Matter

Karl J. Friston
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Millicharged particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates arising in many extensions of the standard model. We show that, despite their tiny coupling e_{m} to photons, millicharged dark matter (mDM) in the Earth's geomagnetic field can generate a quasistatic, monochromatic magnetic signal with angular frequency twice the mDM mass. Using null results from the SuperMAG and SNIPE Hunt collaborations, we constrain the effective charge of bosonic mDM in the mass range 10^{-18}-10^{-14} eV. The resulting upper bounds exceed stellar cooling constraints by over 13 orders of magnitude, demonstrating the power of this method.

Physical Review LettersVol. 136(4)
University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Nanjing Normal University (CN), Yantai University (CN), Peking University (CN), Purple Mountain Observatory (CN), Institute of Particle Physics (CA)
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
1.87
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