Detectability of axion-like dark matter for different time-delay interferometry combinations in space-based gravitational wave detectors

Abstract In the space-based gravitational wave detections, the axion-like dark matter would alter the polarization state of the laser link between spacecrafts due to the birefringence effect. However, current designs of space-based laser interferometer are insensitive to variations in the polarization angle. Thus, the additional wave plates are employed to enable the response of the axion-induced birefringence effect. We calculate and compare the sensitivities of different space-based detectors, accounting for three time-delay interferometry combinations, including Monitor, Beacon, and Relay. We find that the Monitor and Beacon combinations have better sensitivity in the high-frequency range, and the optimal sensitivity reaches $$g_{a\gamma }\sim 10^{-13}\text {GeV}^{-1}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>g</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>13</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>GeV</mml:mtext> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , while the Sagnac combination is superior in the low-frequency range. We also find that ASTROD-GW can cover the detection range of axion-like dark matter mass down to $$10^{-20}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>20</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> eV.