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.

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

References in corpus (45)

• Cosmology and the Fate of Dilatation Symmetry
• Measurement of the permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron
• Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
• Revisiting the bound on axion-photon coupling from Globular Clusters
• The Local Dark Matter Density
• Dielectric Haloscopes: A New Way to Detect Axion Dark Matter
• Revisiting the SN1987A gamma-ray limit on ultralight axion-like particles
• First results from a microwave cavity axion search at 24 micro-eV
• Relic neutrino decoupling with flavour oscillations revisited
• Resonant detection of axion mediated forces with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
• Probing eV-scale axions with CAST
• The dark-matter axion mass
• Galactic axions search with a superconducting resonant cavity
• Stellar Recipes for Axion Hunters
• Revisiting the axion bounds from the Galactic white dwarf luminosity function
• The search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm
• Piezoelectrically Tuned Multimode Cavity Search for Axion Dark Matter
• The HAYSTAC Axion Search Analysis Procedure
• Limits on Axion Couplings from the first 80-day data of PandaX-II Experiment
• A Search for Dark Matter Axions with the Orpheus Experiment
• First results from the OSQAR photon regeneration experiment: No light shining through a wall
• A Compendium of Chameleon Constraints
• Design and Operational Experience of a Microwave Cavity Axion Detector for the 20-100 micro-eV Range
• Axion cold dark matter in view of BICEP2 results
• Future Directions in the Microwave Cavity Search for Dark Matter Axions
• Search for Solar Axions Produced in $p(d,{}^3\mathrm{He})\mathrm{A}$ Reaction with Borexino Detector
• Concept of multiple-cell cavity for axion dark matter search
• Axion mass limit from observations of the neutron star in Cassiopeia A
• Constraints on the Coupling between Axionlike Dark Matter and Photons Using an Antiproton Superconducting Tuned Detection Circuit in a Cryogenic Penning Trap
• 3.55 keV photon lines from axion to photon conversion in the Milky Way and M31
• Revisiting longitudinal plasmon-axion conversion in external magnetic fields
• Gravitational waves from axion-like particle cosmic string-wall networks
• 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
• Superfluid phases of triplet pairing and rapid cooling of the neutron star in Cassiopeia A
• Axion helioscopes as solar magnetometers
• Laser induced fluorescence for axion dark matter detection: a feasibility study in YLiF${}_4$:Er${}^{3+}$
• Search for Solar Axions Produced by Primakoff Conversion Using Resonant Absorption by ${}^{169}$Tm Nuclei
• Astrophysical Haloscopes
• Ultralight Bosonic Field Mass Bounds from Astrophysical Black Hole Spin
• Collider constraints on axion-like particles
• Solar Axion Search Technique with Correlated Signals from Multiple Detectors
• Dark matter Axion search with riNg Cavity Experiment DANCE: Current sensitivity
• First results of the CAST-RADES haloscope search for axions at 34.67 $\mu$eV