Searching for scalar dark matter with mechanical sensors

We discuss mechanical sensors as detectors for ultralight scalar dark matter. Several ultralight scalar dark matter candidates effectively modulate the fine structure constant or lepton masses, producing a mechanical signature in the form of an atomic strain at the DM Compton frequency. The strength and frequency of this signal are unknown, and we consider both resonant and broadband detection schemes to address the tradeoff between sensitivity and bandwidth. Our work proposes several small-scale experiments to contribute to the search for dark matter.