Speaker
Description
The nature of dark matter is one of the great mysteries of modern physics and may be the result of
new particles beyond the standard model. The Axion, originally conceived as a solution to the strong-
CP problem in nuclear physics, is one well-motivated candidate. In 1983 Pierre Sikivie proposed an
experimental search technique, known as an axion haloscope, that relies on a large microwave cavity
immersed in a strong static magnetic field to resonantly convert dark matter axions to detectable
photons. This became the foundation of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX), which has
recently began taking data at unprecedented sensitivity in the classical QCD-axion mass range of
several
micro-eV. In addition, several new detection techniques have been proposed to cover a large span
of potential axion masses beyond that of the classical window. There also exist a set of experiments that look for axions generated in the sun, from intense laser sources and from modifications to force of gravity at short range. In this talk I will describe the history
of axion searches and give a survey of the R&D efforts currently underway to explore
the entire potential axion mass window.
