Speaker
Mrs
Juan Antonio Garcia Pascual
(Universidad de Zaragoza)
Description
Axions are well motivated particles proposed in an extension of the SM as a solution to the strong CP-problem. On the other hand there is the category of axion-like particles (ALPs) which appear in diverse extensions of the SM and share the same phenomenology of the axion. Axions and ALPs are hypothetical neutral and light particles which interacts weakly with the matter, being candidates to solve the Dark Matter problem. Several techniques have been developed to search for axions and ALPs, among which the axion helioscope is one of the more promising. CAST (CERN Axion Solar Telescope) is the most sensitive axion helioscope so far. The latest results from the CAST experiment up to axion masses of 1.17 eV will be presented. Moreover CAST will improve its sensitivity due to the improvement of the background level of the X-ray detectors and the installation of a new X-ray optic. Beyond CAST a new generation helioscope has been proposed: IAXO-the International AXion Observatory. IAXO will exploit the helioscope technique with a dedicated magnet, optics and low background detectors. IAXO will have a sensitivity to the axion-photon coupling of more than one order of magnitude beyond CAST, entering a large fraction of unexplored parameter space. IAXO could became a generic facility for axion research. The possibility of hosting dark matter axion detectors in IAXO is under study. The details of the IAXO proposal will be described.
Primary author
Mrs
Juan Antonio Garcia Pascual
(Universidad de Zaragoza)
