Searching for Ultralight Dark Matter with M{\"o}ssbauer Resonance

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of probing the interaction between ultralight scalar dark matter and atomic nuclei using a stationary Mossbauer spectroscopy scheme. The exceptional energy resolution of the Mossbauer resonance enables testing nuclear energy shifts arising from the local dark matter field. In principle, a stationary measurement allows faster data acquisition and becomes advantageous at higher dark matter masses in the range 10^{-15} - 10^{-8} eV. We present the projected sensitivity to the dark matter parameter space for three candidate Mossbauer isotopes, Ag-109, Sc-45, and Zn-67. Among them, Ag-109 provides the highest sensitivity, followed by Zn-67. For Ag-109, the scalar dark matter photon coupling f_gamma^{-1} can be constrained down to the level of 10^{-18} GeV^{-1}}, exceeding the sensitivity of several existing experiments. The scalar dark matter gluon coupling f_g^{-1} can be probed down to 10^{-21} GeV^{-1}, while the scalar dark matter quark coupling y_d can reach approximately 10^{-22} GeV^{-1}. These results demonstrate that Mossbauer based techniques offer a promising and competitive approach for probing ultralight dark matter interactions with Standard Model particles.