Constraining ultralight vector dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array second data release

Composed of ultralight bosons, fuzzy dark matter provides an intriguing solution to challenges that the standard cold dark matter model encounters on subgalactic scales. The ultralight dark matter with mass m similar to 10-23 eV will induce a periodic oscillation in gravitational potentials with a frequency in the nanohertz band, leading to observable effects in the arrival times of radio pulses from pulsars. Unlike scalar dark matter, pulsar timing signals induced by the vector dark matter are dependent on the oscillation direction of the vector fields. In this work, we search for ultralight vector dark matter in the mass range of [2 x 10-24; 2 x 10-221 eV through its gravitational effect in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) second data release. Since no statistically significant detection is made, we place 95% upper limits on the local dark matter density as rho VF < 5 GeV/cm3 for m < 10-23 eV. As no preferred direction is found for the vector dark matter, these constraints are comparable to those given by the scalar dark matter search with an earlier 12-year dataset of PPTA.

Automated summary

Composed of ultralight bosons, fuzzy dark matter offers a solution to challenges faced by the standard cold dark matter model on subgalactic scales. This study searches for ultralight vector dark matter in the mass range of 2 x 10-24 to 2 x 10-221 eV through its gravitational effect on pulsar timing in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) second data release. No statistically significant detection is made, and upper limits on the local dark matter density are placed.