Quantum Technologies: A Deeper Insight into Dark Matter
Helmholtz Information congratulates: The European Research Council (ERC) has chosen the international project “Quantum Technologies for Axion Dark Matter Search”, abbreviated DarkQuantum, for funding through an ERC Synergy Grant. Professor Wolfgang Wernsdorfer, a physicist from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Helmholtz Information, is involved as a leading researcher in the project. DarkQuantum aims to use quantum technologies to experimentally prove the existence of axions. These yet hypothetical elementary particles are considered promising candidates for dark matter. (Source: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – Press Releases)
It permeates our universe and poses significant challenges for research: dark matter. Since it emits no light or any other electromagnetic radiation, it is invisible. Dark matter is evident in many astrophysical and cosmological observations; however, its particle physics nature remains unresolved. According to a convincing hypothesis, dark matter consists of axions, which are light and interact weakly with ordinary matter. These are, so far, hypothetical elementary particles of low mass. Within a strong magnetic field, axions could, according to the hypothesis, transform into electromagnetic waves and vice versa. Theoretically, there is much to suggest axions as candidates for dark matter. However, their experimental proof is still pending.
Quantum-based Haloscopes in Search of Axions
Searching for axions and proving their existence is the goal of the European DarkQuantum project. Professor Wolfgang Wernsdorfer from the Physics Institute of KIT (PHI) acts as one of the leading researchers in the project, which is funded by the European Research Council with a Synergy Grant. “The nature of quantum phenomena is among the great, unresolved and thus particularly fascinating research questions. Working on this topic is also a prime example of cross-institutional and international collaboration in science. I am very pleased that Wolfgang Wernsdorfer and his colleagues in Germany and abroad have jointly secured one of the prestigious ERC Synergy Grants,” says Professor Oliver Kraft, Vice President for Research at KIT.
DarkQuantum utilizes quantum technologies and combines them with particle physics infrastructures at CERN and DESY to locate axions in the galactic halo, i.e., in the outer Milky Way. Superconducting qubits enable instruments that are extremely sensitive to tiny amounts of electromagnetic radiation, with much lower background noise than conventional technologies. The plan is to build two quantum-based haloscopes. These sensors could detect axions with previously unknown sensitivity and range through their interactions with electromagnetic fields.
Proof Would Fundamentally Influence Our Understanding of Reality
“The axion haloscopes have a highly cooled vacuum chamber where a strong magnetic field is generated. In this cavity, axions should be able to transform into photons and be detected through the oscillations they create in the electromagnetic field using highly sensitive detectors,” explains Professor Wernsdorfer. Building quantum-based instruments for particle physics requires close collaboration of experts from various areas of physics, from ultra-low temperature cryogenics and quantum circuits to particle physics. “If the new strategies of the DarkQuantum project succeed in experimentally proving axions, it would be a breakthrough in physics that would fundamentally influence our understanding of reality,” says Wolfgang Wernsdorfer.
A total of eight European universities and research institutions are involved in the DarkQuantum project. The Universidad de Zaragoza in Zaragoza, Spain, acts as the coordinator; leading researchers come from it, as well as from KIT, the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in France, and the University of Aalto in Finland. The project is set for six years. The funding amounts to 12.9 million euros, of which KIT receives around two million euros.
About Professor Wolfgang Wernsdorfer
Professor Wolfgang Wernsdorfer studied physics at the University of Würzburg and the École normale supérieure de Lyon, completed his doctorate at CNRS in Grenoble, and habilitated at the Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble. In 2004, he became a research director at the Institut Néel of CNRS in Grenoble. In 2016, he received a Humboldt Professorship at KIT. He leads research groups at the Physics Institute and the Institute for Quantum Materials and Technologies at KIT, focusing on quantum components based on semiconductors, superconductors, and magnetic molecules. Wolfgang Wernsdorfer has received numerous prizes and awards, including an ERC Advanced Grant for a project at KIT.
ERC Synergy Grants
The European Research Council funds promising teams of researchers through Synergy Grants. The projects should only be possible in collaboration between the named scientists. They aim to lead to discoveries at the interfaces between established disciplines and significant advances at the frontiers of knowledge. For the 2023 call, a total of 395 applications were received; 37 projects were selected by the ERC for a Synergy Grant. Germany is most strongly represented in 27 of the selected projects. Researchers from KIT have now received the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant for the third time.
KIT/M. Lehné, 26.10.2023
Note: The article has been translated from German to English. It is based on a press release from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
The original press release can be found at:
Quantentechnologien: Tiefer Blick in die Dunkle Materie (only in german)
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 2: Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing, Topic 2: Quantum Computing
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wernsdorfer
Institute for Quantum Materials and Technologies (IQMT)
Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721 608-43430
E-Mail: wolfgang.wernsdorfer@kit.edu
Contact for this press release:
Margarete Lehné
Press Officer
Karlsruher Institute for Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721 608-41157
E-Mail: margarete.lehne@kit.edu
