Séminaires du DPhP: Axion dark matter, a biased overview
par
CEA Paris-Saclay
The axion is a compelling extension of the Standard Model, introduced to address a longstanding puzzle in QCD. I will briefly review the theoretical motivation for introducing a new global U(1) symmetry and its associated pseudo-Nambu–Goldstone boson, the axion. Remarkably, the resulting particle is also a natural dark matter candidate. I will illustrate this connection by calculating the axion relic density and discussing the conditions under which axions can account for the observed dark matter abundance. Requiring the axion to constitute the dark matter places significant constraints on its mass and interaction scale, providing a well-defined target for experimental searches. I will use this as a starting point to review the main experimental strategies for axion dark matter detection, from traditional narrow-band resonant searches to broadband approaches designed to explore a wider mass range. I will conclude with DAWA, an experiment being developed at Saclay to pursue broadband searches for axion dark matter.
Etienne Savalle, Matthias Saimpert