Orateur
Leslie Rosenberg
(Wahington)
Description
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle whose existence would
explain the baffling absence of CP violation in the strong interactions.
It's properties make it a good dark-matter candidate.
Even though dark-matter axions would make up the overwhelming
majority of mass in the universe, they are extraordinarily difficult
to detect. However, by threading a high-Q microwave cavity with
a large static magnetic field, nearby Milky-Way halo axions are stimulated to
convert into microwave power within the cavity. This extremely tiny power
could then be detected by sensitive electromagnetic detectors.
Recently, these detectors have improved to where even the
more pessimistically-coupled dark-matter axions could be detected.
I will describe the progress made in this experimental search
for dark-matter axions.
Author
Leslie Rosenberg
(Wahington)
