Snowmass 2021 White Paper: The Windchime Project
hep-ex
/ Authors
The Windchime Collaboration, Alaina Attanasio, Sunil A. Bhave, Carlos Blanco, Daniel Carney, Marcel Demarteau, Bahaa Elshimy, Michael Febbraro, Matthew A. Feldman, Sohitri Ghosh
and 16 more authors
Abby Hickin, Seongjin Hong, Rafael F. Lang, Benjamin Lawrie, Shengchao Li, Zhen Liu, Juan P. A. Maldonado, Claire Marvinney, Hein Zay Yar Oo, Yun-Yi Pai, Raphael Pooser, Juehang Qin
/ Abstract
The absence of clear signals from particle dark matter in direct detection experiments motivates new approaches in disparate regions of viable parameter space. In this Snowmass white paper, we outline the Windchime project, a program to build a large array of quantum-enhanced mechanical sensors. The ultimate aim is to build a detector capable of searching for Planck mass-scale dark matter purely through its gravitational coupling to ordinary matter. In the shorter term, we aim to search for a number of other physics targets, especially some ultralight dark matter candidates. Here, we discuss the basic design, open R&D challenges and opportunities, current experimental efforts, and both short- and long-term physics targets of the Windchime project.