Qubits for Dark Matter Hunting

Abstract

An introductory review is provided for those who are interested in exploring applications of qubits and other quantum excitations to the detection of dark matter (and any other physics beyond the Standard Model). Topics covered include the fundamental properties of qubits, the excitation mechanism of qubits due to the electric field induced by dark matter (with attention to the effects of the coherence of dark matter), the dynamics of coupled qubit-cavity systems modeled by the Jaynes-Cummings framework, and the influence of noise and decoherence (especially Markovian noise described by the Lindblad equation). In addition, the article introduces essential concepts in quantum sensing, including the operator-sum representation and positive operator-valued measures, the Cramér-Rao bound, the standard quantum limit and the Heisenberg limit, and the potential enhancement of sensitivity to dark matter achievable with entangled states. Throughout, these topics are discussed with particular emphasis on their application to the detection of wave-like dark matter.