Speaker
William DeRocco
(Stanford University)
Description
A large flux of axion-like particles can be produced in the solar core. While the majority of these particles will have high velocities and escape the Sun’s gravitational pull, a small fraction of low-velocity particles will become trapped on bound orbits. Over time, an appreciable density of slow-moving axions can accumulate in this “solar basin.” Their subsequent decay to two photons provides a distinct observational signature. I will present an ongoing analysis using the NuSTAR X-ray telescope to search for the decay products of keV-scale axions trapped in the solar basin.
Primary author
William DeRocco
(Stanford University)
Co-authors
Junwu Huang
Ken Van Tilburg
Shalma Wegsman