Binary pulsars as resonant detectors of Ultra-Light Dark Matter

D. LÓPEZ NACIR

Peyresq

Encuentro; Peyresq Physics 22; 2017

Dark matter (DM) could consist of very light bosons or axion-like particles which can be described as a classical scalar field that experiences oscillations. The presence of the DM field can lead to observable effects on the dynamics of ordinary matter, either because the DM stress tensor modifies the spacetime metric, or if the DM is directly coupled to the Standard Model. In this talk I will discuss recent work aimed at exploiting the exquisite precision of measurements of orbital parameters of binary pulsars to constrain these effects.