The statistics and sensitivity of axion wind detection with the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3

Abstract

The homogeneous precession domain (HPD) of superfluid ${}^3$He has recently been identified as a detection medium which might provide sensitivity to the axion-nucleon coupling $g_{aNN}$ competitive with, or surpassing, existing experimental proposals. In this work, we make a detailed study of the statistical and dynamical properties of the HPD system in order to make realistic projections for a full-fledged experimental program. We include the effects of clock error and measurement error in a concrete readout scheme using superconducting qubits and quantum metrology. This work also provides a more general framework to describe the statistics associated with the axion gradient coupling through the treatment of a transient resonance with a non-stationary background in a time-series analysis. Incorporating an optimal data-taking and analysis strategy, we project a sensitivity approaching $g_{aNN}\sim 10^{-12}$ GeV${}^{-1}$ across a decade in axion mass.

Comments: 15+7 pages, 9 figures; v2: schematic illustration added, specified details of measurement scheme. Version published in PRD