Precision Solar System Dynamics for Ultralight Dark Matter Search

arXiv:2607.00072 · hep-ph, astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.EP, astro-ph.IM · Submitted 2026-06-30 · Read on arXiv

Jonas Frerick, Hyungjin Kim, Felix Kling

hep-ph, astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.EP, astro-ph.IM

Submitted: 2026-06-30

Comments: 24 pages, 8 figures

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: Ultralight dark matter exhibits an order-one density fluctuation at the scale of its wavelength.

Terminology

Abstract

Ultralight dark matter exhibits an order-one density fluctuation at the scale of its wavelength. This density fluctuation exists across the entire dark matter halo and interacts with stars and planets, perturbing their motion via gravitational interactions. We investigate the possibility of using precision solar system dynamics to search for ultralight dark matter. We examine this possibility with interplanetary radio range measurements. We show that the precision of current range measurements can probe ultralight dark matter at masses around 10-15, eV, had its density in the solar system been 10 5 larger than the so-called local dark matter density. This limit complements other constraints, such as the one from analyses of pulsar timing observations.

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