GPS satellites — the largest dark matter detector ever built

Our recent paper (Nature Communications - Open Access) has received a little coverage in the press.

We used the GPS constellation as a ~50,000 km aperture dark matter detector to search for dark matter in the form of domain walls. Each of the GPS satellites contains an atomic clock. If dark matter interacts with regular matter, it may perturb the clock, allowing us to search for dark matter-induced “glitches” in the clock timing data. We didn’t find anything, allowing us to place stringent constraints on certain dark matter models. For the technical details, you can read about it in our paper (open access), or you can visit our group’s website: http://www.dereviankogroup.com/gps-dark-matter/

Animation made by Conner Dailey

Written on 10 November 2017