Spectroscopy and physics of atoms and molecules

Hexatomic molecule RaOCH$_3$ as a platform for studying interactions with the Dark Matter halo

A. V. Zakharova<sup>ab

a</sup> Saint Petersburg State University
^b The Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, The National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute"

Abstract: The interaction of the electronic shell of a hexatomic symmetric top molecule with the Dark Matter halo is studied under the assumption that it is formed by a condensate of the pseudoscalar axion field. In the linear order, the contribution of the corresponding interaction vanishes for non-chiral molecules in equilibrium configurations, that's why chiral molecules were previously considered for its search. In this paper, we point out the possibility of this interaction for non-chiral molecules of the symmetric top type through transitions between excited rovibrational, and consider it using the example of the RaOCH$_3$ molecule. For this molecule, the effect is strongly suppressed, but the mechanism considered can lead to the observable effects in other molecules of this type.

Keywords: axion, symmetric top molecule, opposite parity levels, self-consistent field.

Received: 04.04.2025
Revised: 10.06.2025
Accepted: 13.06.2025

DOI: 10.61011/OS.2025.07.61100.7682-25

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