We have performed a detailed investigation of geophysical constraints on the possible admixture of mirror matter inside the Earth. On the basis of the preliminary reference Earth model—the “standard model” of the Earth’s interior—we have developed a method which allows one to compute changes in various quantities characterizing the Earth (mass, moment of inertia, normal mode frequencies, etc.) due to the presence of mirror matter. As a result we have been able to obtain for the first time the direct upper bounds on the possible concentration of the mirror matter in the Earth. In terms of the ratio of the mirror mass to the Earth mass a conservative upper bound is $3.8\times {10}^{-3}.$ We then analyzed possible mechanisms (such as lunar and solar tidal forces, meteorite impacts and earthquakes) of exciting mirror matter oscillations around the Earth’s center. Such oscillations could manifest themselves through global variations of the gravitational acceleration at the Earth’s surface. We conclude that such variations are too small to be observed. Our results are valid for other types of hypothetical matter coupled to ordinary matter by gravitation only (e.g. the shadow matter of superstring theories).

• Received 22 December 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.62.023508