Colloquium: John Ellis, King's College London

Abstract:  Atom interferometers measure the quantum interference between cold atoms in clouds following different space-time trajectories, which is sensitive to phase shifts induced by interactions with ultralight dark matter or the passage of gravitational waves. The capabilities of atom interferometers will be illustrated by their estimated sensitivities to the possible couplings of ultralight dark matter to electrons and photons, and to gravitational waves in the frequency range around 1 Hz intermediate between the peak sensitivities of the LIGO and LISA experiments. The latter open a window on mergers of masses intermediate between those discovered by the LIGO and Virgo experiments and the supermassive black holes present in the cores of galaxies, as well as fundamental physics processes in the early Universe.