The COSMIC WISPers White Paper: The physics case for Weakly Interacting Slim Particles
Abstract
Axions and other very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs), with masses below 1 GeV, arise naturally in many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In particular, they could offer a new framework to explain the nature of dark matter and may help address a range of puzzling observations in astrophysics and particle physics. This review provides an overview of ongoing WISP searches and outlines the prospects for the next decade, spanning their theoretical motivation, indirect signatures in astrophysical observations, and dedicated laboratory experiments. It is based on the work carried on by the EU-funded COST Action ``Cosmic WISPers in the Dark Universe: Theory, astrophysics, and experiments'' (CA21106, https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA21106). This network plays a key role in coordinating and supporting WISP searches across Europe, while also contributing to the development of a roadmap aimed at securing European leadership in this research area. It is emphasized that Europe is currently pursuing a rich, diverse, and cost-effective experimental program, with the potential to deliver one or more transformative discoveries.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.03433,
title = {The COSMIC WISPers White Paper: The physics case for Weakly Interacting Slim Particles},
author = {Ariel Arza and Deniz Aybas and Shyam Balaji and Reuven Balkin and Kai Bartnick and Charles F. A. Baynham and Itay M. Bloch and Claudio Bonati and Dmitry Budker and Clare Burrage and Malte Buschmann and Francesca Calore and Francisco R. Candón and Pierluca Carenza and Serkant Ali Cetin and Francesca Chadha-Day and Sreemanti Chakraborti and Kiwoon Choi and Michele Cicoli and Lei Cong and Joseph P. Conlon and Florin Lucian Constantin and José Correia and Claudia De Dominicis and Arturo de Giorgi and Pedro De la Torre Luque and Javier De Miguel and Francesco D'Eramo and Alejandro Díaz-Morcillo and Patricia Diego-Palazuelos and David Díez-Ibáñez and Luca Di Luzio and Amelia Drew and Babette Döbrich and Christopher Eckner and Aldo Ejlli and Sebastian A. R. Ellis and Angelo Esposito and Elisa Ferreira and Nahuel Ferreiro Iachellini and Damiano F. G. Fiorillo and Matteo Galaverni and Michele Gallinaro and Camilo García-Cely and Silvia Gasparotto and Claudio Gatti and Daniel Gavilan-Martin and Maurizio Giannotti and Benito Gimeno and Marco Gorghetto and Giovanni Grilli di Cortona and Jordan Gué and Gerard Higgins and Dieter Horns and Mathieu Kaltschmidt and Marin Karuza and Venelin Kozhuharov and Stepan Kunc and Francesca Lecce and Alessandro Lella and Axel Lindner and Maria Paola Lombardo and Giuseppe Lucente and Olympia Maliaka and Cristina Margalejo and Marios Maroudas and Luca Marsicano and Luca Merlo and Alessandro Mirizzi and Vasiliki A. Mitsou and Guido Mueller and Kai Murai and Toshiya Namikawa and Fumihiro Naokawa and Le Hoang Nguyen and Ciaran O'Hare and Tomas O'Shea and Ippei Obata and Ali Övgün and Francisco Gil Pedro and Giovanni Pierobon and Tanmay Kumar Poddar and Josef Pradler and Pierre Pugnat and Beyhan Puliçe and Raquel Quishpe and Georg G. Raffelt and Maria Ramos and Wolfram Ratzinger and Marco Regis and Mario Reig and Sophie Renner and Alessio Rettaroli and Nicole Righi and Andreas Ringwald and Laura R. Roberts and Keir K. Rogers and Qazal Rokn and Ophir M. Ruimi and Jaime Ruz and Kenichi Saikawa and Marco Scalisi and Andreas Schachner and Joern Schaffran and Kristof Schmieden and Matthias Schott and Javi Serra and Anton Sokolov and Paolo Spagnolo and Konstantin Springmann and Michael Staelens and Stefan Stelzl and Oscar Straniero and Marco Taoso and Elisa Todarello and Claudio Toni and Lorenzo Ubaldi and Federico Urban and Rodrigo Vicente and Luca Visinelli and Edoardo Vitagliano and Julia K. Vogel and Andreas Weiler and Samuel J. Witte and Michael Wurm and Wen Yin and Konstantin Zioutas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.03433},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
620 pages, 114 figures, 30 tables. Comments are welcome. Please, contact the corresponding authors if you want to endorse the White Paper