The search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm
Abstract
Two of the most pressing questions in physics are the microscopic nature of the dark matter that comprises 84% of the mass in the universe and the absence of a neutron electric dipole moment. These questions would be resolved by the existence of a hypothetical particle known as the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion. In this work, we probe the hypothesis that axions constitute dark matter, using the ABRACADABRA-10cm experiment in a broadband configuration, with world-leading sensitivity. We find no significant evidence for axions, and we present 95% upper limits on the axion-photon coupling down to the world-leading level GeV, representing one of the most sensitive searches for axions in the 0.41 - 8.27 neV mass range. Our work paves a direct path for future experiments capable of confirming or excluding the hypothesis that dark matter is a QCD axion in the mass range motivated by String Theory and Grand Unified Theories.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2102.06722,
title = {The search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm},
author = {Chiara P. Salemi and Joshua W. Foster and Jonathan L. Ouellet and Andrew Gavin and Kaliroe M. W. Pappas and Sabrina Cheng and Kate A. Richardson and Reyco Henning and Yonatan Kahn and Rachel Nguyen and Nicholas L. Rodd and Benjamin R. Safdi and Lindley Winslow},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.06722},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
17 pages, 12 figures