New Atomic probes for Dark Matter detection: Axions, Axion-like particles and Topological Defects

Understand

We present a brief overview of recently proposed detection schemes for axion, axion-like pseudoscalar particle and topological defect dark matter.

• We focus mainly on the possibility of using atomic and molecular systems for dark matter detection.
• For axions and axion-like particles, these methods are complementary probes to ongoing photon-axion interconversion experiments and astrophysical observations.
• For topological defects, these methods are complementary to conventional astrophysical search schemes based on gravitational signatures.