The Zoom link for the Sydney-CPPC seminars is https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/2980559069. The seminars are open to everyone.

Seminar

Supernova-scope for the Direct Search of Supernova Axions

by Koichi Hamaguchi (University of Tokyo)

Australia/Sydney
Description

This talk is based on our recent work [arxiv:2008.03924]. If a supernova explosion occurs within a few hundred parsecs from the Earth, a huge number of axions, in addition to neutrinos, may arrive at the Earth. We discuss the prospect of detecting those supernova axions by an axion helioscope. With the help of a pre-supernova neutrino alert system, it is possible to point a helioscope at an exploding supernova in advance. The supernova axions can then be detected by a gamma-ray detector installed at the end of the helioscope. We call such a detection system an axion supernova-scope (SNscope). We propose a conceptual design for an axion SNscope, where the gamma-ray detector is installed at the opposite end to the X-ray detector for the solar axion. It still functions as an axion helioscope during the normal operation time, and once a pre-SN neutrino alert is received, the scope is temporarily turned around and targeted to a SN candidate, waiting for the supernova axions. We estimate the sensitivity of supernova axion detection and find that SNscopes based on the next-generation axion helioscopes, such as IAXO, have potential to explore the invisible axions and to test the axion interpretation of stellar cooling anomalies. (If I have time, I may also mention a related work [arXiv:2012.02508] on the inverse Primakoff scattering of axions.)