Masha Baryakhtar: Searching for Ultralight Axions with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

Thursday 4 Jun 2020, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Zurich

Zoom only (CERN)

I will discuss how black holes can become nature's laboratories for new ultralight particles and ongoing observations of gravitational waves can inform models of particle physics. When a particle's Compton wavelength is comparable to the horizon size of a black hole, energy and angular momentum from the black hole are converted into exponentially growing clouds of bosons, creating a gravitational atom in the sky. Theories beyond the Standard Model often include new, light, feebly interacting particles -- including the QCD axion -- whose discovery requires novel observations and search strategies. Such `gravitational atoms' can also source up to thousands of monochromatic gravitational wave signals; I will discuss searches underway in current LIGO data, enabling gravitational wave searches to discover or exclude new particles. If the axions interact with one another, instead of gravitational waves, black holes populate the universe with axion waves that may be detectable in dark matter searches.

Zoom coordinates below:

https://cern.zoom.us/j/99113688676

Meeting ID: 991 1368 8676
One tap mobile
+41432107108,,99113688676# Switzerland
+41315280988,,99113688676# Switzerland

Dial by your location
        +41 43 210 71 08 Switzerland
        +41 31 528 09 88 Switzerland
        +41 43 210 70 42 Switzerland
        +33 7 5678 4048 France
        +33 1 7037 2246 France
        +33 1 7037 9729 France
Meeting ID: 991 1368 8676
Find your local number: https://cern.zoom.us/u/awBF3LWct

Join by SIP
99113688676@zoomcrc.com

Join by H.323
162.255.37.11 (US West)
162.255.36.11 (US East)
221.122.88.195 (China)
115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai)
115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad)
213.19.144.110 (EMEA)
103.122.166.55 (Australia)
209.9.211.110 (Hong Kong
 China)
64.211.144.160 (Brazil)
69.174.57.160 (Canada)
207.226.132.110 (Japan)
Meeting ID: 991 1368 8676