In experiments searching for axionic dark matter, the use of the standard threshold-based data analysis discards valuable information. We present a Bayesian analysis framework that builds on an existing processing protocol to extract more information from the data of coherent axion detectors such as operating haloscopes. The analysis avoids logical subtleties that accompany the standard analysis framework and enables greater experimental flexibility on future data runs. Performing this analysis on the existing data from the HAYSTAC experiment, we find improved constraints on the axion-photon coupling gγ while also identifying the most promising regions of parameter space within the 23.15--24.0μeV mass range. A comparison with the standard threshold analysis suggests a 36% improvement in scan rate from our analysis, demonstrating the utility of this framework for future axion haloscope analyses.
@article{arxiv.2003.08510,
title = {An improved analysis framework for axion dark matter searches},
author = {D. A. Palken and B. M. Brubaker and M. Malnou and S. Al Kenany and K. M. Backes and S. B. Cahn and Y. V. Gurevich and S. K. Lamoreaux and S. M. Lewis and R. H. Maruyama and N. M. Rapidis and J. R. Root and M. Simanovskaia and T. M. Shokair and Sukhman Singh and D. H. Speller and I. Urdinaran and K. van Bibber and L. Zhong and K. W. Lehnert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.08510},
year = {2020}
}