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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Very few mysteries in our current picture of the universe are bigger than the puzzle of dark matter. Recently the QCD axion -- a weakly interacting, sub-eV particle -- has been in the limelight as a cold dark matter candidate which also enjoys compelling theoretical motivation as a possible solution to the strong CP problem. This talk will give an overview of modern axion searches along with a detailed discussion of the most sensitive experiment to probe the QCD axion to date, ADMX. In particular, I will focus on ADMX's recent success in reaching the so-called DFSZ sensitivity -- a decade long goal sought by axion experimenters -- and its newest limits covering axion mass ranges of 2.66 to 2.81 μeV. The limits ADMX has placed in this range have crucial implications for the future direction of on-going dark matter searches as I will outline.
Host: Jonas Lippuner