Dielectric Haloscopes to Search for Axion Dark Matter: Theoretical Foundations
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology2017-02-01v2Cosmology and Nongalactic AstrophysicsHigh Energy Astrophysical PhenomenaHigh Energy Physics - ExperimentInstrumentation and Detectors
We study the underlying theory of dielectric haloscopes, a new way to detect dark matter axions. When an interface between different dielectric media is inside a magnetic field, the oscillating axion field acts as a source of electromagnetic waves, which emerge in both directions perpendicular to the surface. The emission rate can be boosted by multiple layers judiciously placed to achieve constructive interference and by a large transverse area. Starting from the axion-modified Maxwell equations, we calculate the efficiency of this new dielectric haloscope approach. This technique could potentially search the unexplored high-frequency range of 10--100 GHz (axion mass 40--400 μeV), where traditional cavity resonators have difficulties reaching the required volume.
@article{arxiv.1612.07057,
title = {Dielectric Haloscopes to Search for Axion Dark Matter: Theoretical Foundations},
author = {Alexander J. Millar and Georg G. Raffelt and Javier Redondo and Frank D. Steffen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1612.07057},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
71 pages, 34 figures; v2: minor changes, typo in (4.13) corrected, matches published version