First results of the CAST-RADES haloscope search for axions at 34.67 μeV

We present results of the Relic Axion Dark-Matter Exploratory Setup (RADES), a detector which is part of the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), searching for axion dark matter in the 34.67μeV mass range. A radio frequency cavity consisting of 5 sub-cavities coupled by inductive irises took physics data inside the CAST dipole magnet for the first time using this filter-like haloscope geometry. An exclusion limit with a 95% credibility level on the axion-photon coupling constant of gaγ & 4 × 10−13 GeV−1 over a mass range of 34.6738μeV < ma < 34.6771μeV is set. This constitutes a significant improvement over the current strongest limit set by CAST at this mass and is at the same time one of the most sensitive direct searches for an axion dark matter candidate above the mass of 25μeV. The results also demonstrate the feasibility of exploring a wider mass range around the value probed by CAST-RADES in this work using similar coherent resonant cavitiesWe wish to thank our colleagues at CERN, in particular Marc Thiebert from the coating lab, as well as the whole team of the CERN Central Cryogenic Laboratory for their support and advice in speci c aspects of the project. We thank Arefe Abghari for her contributions as the project's summer student during 2018. This work has been funded by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) under project FPA-2016-76978-C3-2-P and PID2019-108122GB-C33, and was supported by the CERN Doctoral Studentship programme. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council and BD, JG and SAC acknowledge support through the European Research Council under grant ERC-2018-StG-802836 (AxScale project). BD also acknowledges fruitful discussions at MIAPP supported by DFG under EXC-2094 { 390783311. IGI acknowledges also support from the European Research Council (ERC) under grant ERC-2017-AdG-788781 (IAXO+ project). JR has been supported by the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship 2012-10597, the grant PGC2018-095328-B-I00(FEDER/Agencia estatal de investigaci on) and FSE-GA2017-2019-E12/7R (Gobierno de Aragón/FEDER) (MINECO/FEDER), the EU through the ITN \Elusives" H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015/674896 and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under grant SFB-1258 as a Mercator Fellow. CPG was supported by PROMETEO II/2014/050 of Generalitat Valenciana, FPA2014-57816-P of MINECO and by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreements 690575 and 674896. AM is supported by the European Research Council under Grant No. 742104. Part of this work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344

Electric dipole moments and the search for new physics

Static electric dipole moments of nondegenerate systems probe mass scales for physics beyond the Standard Model well beyond those reached directly at high energy colliders. Discrimination between different physics models, however, requires complementary searches in atomic-molecular-and-optical, nuclear and particle physics. In this report, we discuss the current status and prospects in the near future for a compelling suite of such experiments, along with developments needed in the encompassing theoretical framework.Comment: Contribution to Snowmass 2021; updated with community edits and endorsement

An update on the Axion Helioscopes front: current activities at CAST and the IAXO project

Although they have not yet been detected, axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) continue to maintain the interest (even increasingly so) of the rare-event searches community as viable candidates for the Dark Matter of the Universe but also as a solution for several other puzzles of astrophysics. Their property of coupling to photons has inspired different experimental methods for their detection, one of which is the helioscope technique. The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) is the most sensitive helioscope built up to date and has recently published part of the latest data taken with the magnet bores gradually filled with 3He, probing the mass range up to 1.17 eV. The International AXion Observatory (IAXO) is being proposed as a facility where different axion studies can be performed, with the primary goal to study axions coming from the Sun. Designed to maximize sensitivity, it will improve the levels reached by CAST by almost 5 orders of magnitude in signal detection, that is more than one order of magnitude in terms of gaγ. Here we will summarize the most important aspects of the helioscopes, and focus mainly on IAXO, based on the recent papers [1, 2]

CAST Status Report to the SPSC for the 119th Meeting

A status report for the CAST experiment in the year 2015 is presented. It includes the current status of the experiment concerning the detection of solar axions as well as the status of the proposed activities concerning relic axions and chameleons as a candidate particles invented to solve the mystery of the dark energy

Search for Solar ALPs in the Low Energy Range at CAST

It has been shown that a detector system, sensitive to single photons in the eV range can be coupled to the CAST experimen

University students\u27 conceptual understanding of microscopic models of electrical and thermal conduction in solids

Teaching the concepts of electrical and thermal transport in solids begins in elementary school through simple macroscopic models and progressively develops to microscopic quantum models within specialized university courses. Educational research has pointed to a number of misconceptions in this field, especially when it comes to understanding related phenomena at the microscopic level. This study aimed to design an appropriate open-ended version of the concept inventory to test the level of students\u27 understanding of microscopic models of electrical and thermal conduction in solids (METCS). The METCS concept inventory consists of 27 open-ended questions that examine the understanding of different and interrelated concepts. We used it as a tool for conducting interviews on a sample of ten students from the universities of Rijeka and Split (Croatia). The results of our research confirmed some previously discovered students\u27 misconceptions and revealed a wide range of new ones. These results can be used to stimulate student discussions and to design curricula and lecture plans for more efficient teaching of transport phenomena in solids. The obtained spectrum of misconceptions will serve as a reference tool for the development of a multiple-choice conceptual METCS test to allow research on larger sample