Theoretical aspects and data analysis for topological dark matter searches

Abstract

Dark matter searches are a significant field of focus in modern physics. Despite the strong evidence for the existence of dark matter on galactic scales, its underlying composition remains a mystery. Theoretical efforts point to possible candidates, while experiments and observations place constraints on the theories. In this work, data from the Global Network of Optical Magnetometers for Exotic physics searches (GNOME) are analyzed for evidence of dark matter; namely axion/axion-like-particle domain walls which can couple to fermion spins. The underlying theory of this dark matter is connected to the observations from GNOME in order to constrain the physical parameter space. A thorough description of analysis methods is given along with quantitative meta-analysis of the experiment. Significant evidence of domain walls was not found which allows for a region of parameter space to be excluded.