An introduction to axions and their detection

Abstract

In these notes I try to introduce the reader to the topic of axions: their theoretical motivation and expected phenomenology, their role in astrophysics and as dark matter candidate, and the experimental techniques to detect them. Special emphasis is made in this last point, for which a relatively updated review of worldwide efforts and future prospects is made. The material is intended as an introduction to the topic, and it was prepared as lecture notes for Les Houches summer school 2021. Abundant references are included to direct the reader to deeper insight on the different aspects of axion physics.

arXiv commentSubmitted to SciPost Physics Lecture Notes, Les Houches Summer School Series. Second version after referees comments

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• Stellar Recipes for Axion Hunters
• Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function
• Hot Axions and the $H_0$ tension
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• CAST search for sub-eV mass solar axions with 3He buffer gas
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• Axion cold dark matter in view of BICEP2 results
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• CAST constraints on the axion-electron coupling
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• Concept of multiple-cell cavity for axion dark matter search
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• Searching for axions and ALPs from string theory
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• Search for Solar Axions Using Fe-57
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• Prospects of solar axion searches with crystal detectors
• Constraints on the axion-electron coupling for solar axions produced by Compton process and bremsstrahlung
• A Photon Regeneration Experiment for Axionlike Particle Search using X-rays
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• Axion dark matter search using the storage ring EDM method
• Superfluid phases of triplet pairing and rapid cooling of the neutron star in Cassiopeia A
• Axion helioscopes as solar magnetometers
• Axion-electron decoupling in nucleophobic axion models
• Axions and the luminosity function of white dwarfs. The thin and thick disks, and the halo
• Axion-electrodynamics: a quantum field calculation
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• Search for Solar Axions Produced by Primakoff Conversion Using Resonant Absorption by ${}^{169}$Tm Nuclei
• Astrophysical Haloscopes
• Results of a Search for Paraphotons with Intense X-ray Beams at SPring-8
• First axion dark matter search with toroidal geometry
• A New Signal Model for Axion Cavity Searches from N-Body Simulations
• Search for hadronic axions using axioelectric effect
• Comments on Axions, Domain Walls, and Cosmic Strings
• Production of axion-like particles from photon conversions in large-scale solar magnetic fields
• Ultralight Bosonic Field Mass Bounds from Astrophysical Black Hole Spin
• Noise characterization for resonantly-enhanced polarimetric vacuum magnetic-birefringence experiments
• Theoretical Estimate of the Sensitivity of the CUORE Detector to Solar Axions
• An improved analysis framework for axion dark matter searches
• The initial mass-final luminosity relation of type II supernova progenitors. Hints of new physics?
• Search for solar axion emission from 7Li and D(p,gamma)3He nuclear decays with the CAST gamma-ray calorimeter
• Improved Search for Solar Chameleons with a GridPix Detector at CAST
• Collider constraints on axion-like particles
• The experimental challenge of detecting solar axion-like particles to test cosmological ALP-photon oscillation hypothesis
• The Superconducting Toroid for the New International AXion Observatory (IAXO)
• Exploring 0.1-10eV axions with a new helioscope concept
• Solar Axion Search Technique with Correlated Signals from Multiple Detectors
• Dark matter Axion search with riNg Cavity Experiment DANCE: Current sensitivity
• No axion-like particles from core-collapse supernovae?
• First results of the CAST-RADES haloscope search for axions at 34.67 $\mu$eV