Related papers: The hunt for axions
We investigate the possibility that the observed behavior of test particles outside galaxies, which is usually explained by assuming the presence of dark matter, is the result of the dynamical evolution of particles in higher dimensional…
X-ray telescopes are an exceptional tool for searching for new fundamental physics. In particular, X-ray observations have already placed world-leading bounds on the interaction between photons and axion-like particles (ALPs). ALPs are…
Axion-like particles are hypothetical new light (sub-eV) bosons predicted in some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In astrophysical environments comprising high-energy gamma rays and turbulent magnetic fields, the…
Axion-like dark matter whose symmetry breaking occurs after the end of inflation predicts enhanced primordial density fluctuations at small scales. This leads to dense axion minihalos (or miniclusters) forming early in the history of the…
There is an ongoing and future experimental program searching for axions as both extensions of the Standard Model and as candidates for the observed dark matter. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of being able to pin down precise…
Experimental tests of the Standard Model of particle physics (SM) find excellent agreement with its predictions. Since the original formation of the SM, experiments have provided little guidance regarding the explanations of phenomena…
A number of observed phenomena in high energy physics and cosmology lack their resolution within the Standard Model of particle physics. These puzzles include neutrino oscillations, baryon asymmetry of the universe and existence of dark…
The prospects for detecting a candidate supersymmetric dark matter particle at the LHC are reviewed, and compared with the prospects for direct and indirect searches for astrophysical dark matter, on the basis of a frequentist analysis of…
With the discovery of evidence for neutrino mass, a vivid gamma ray sky at multi-TeV energies, and cosmic ray particles with unexpectedly high energies, astroparticle physics currently runs through an era of rapid progress and moving…
Searches for the axion and axionlike particles may hold the key to unlocking some of the deepest puzzles about our universe, such as dark matter and dark energy. Here we use the recently demonstrated spin-based amplifier to constrain such…
Many difficulties are encountered when attempting to pinpoint a common origin for several observed astrophysical anomalies, and when assessing their tension with existing exclusion limits. These include systematic uncertainties affecting…
Bold strategies are needed to identify most of the elusive particles that should make up most of the Universe's mass
One of the key questions in particle physics and astrophysics is the nature of dark matter, which existence has been confirmed in many astrophysical and cosmological observations. Besides direct and indirect detection experiments, collider…
The dark matter problem is almost a century old. Since the 1930s evidence has been growing that our cosmos is dominated by a new form of non-baryonic matter, that holds galaxies and clusters together and influences cosmic structures up to…
We discuss a possible principle for detecting dark matter axions in galactic halos. If axions constitute a condensate in the Milky Way, stimulated emissions of the axions from a type of excitation in condensed matter can be detectable. We…
Most embeddings of the Standard Model into a more unified theory, in particular the ones based on supergravity or superstrings, predict the existence of a hidden sector of particles which have only very weak interactions with the visible…
Axions and other very weakly interacting slim (with $m <$ 1 GeV) particles (WISPs) are a common feature of several extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. The search of WISPs was already recommended in the last update of the…
The situation in particle physics after the discovery of the Higgs boson is discussed. Is the Standard Model complete? Are there still mysteries which have no answer? Answering these questions we consider the Higgs sector, the neutrino…
Dark matter (comprising a quarter of the Universe) is usually assumed to be due to one and only one weakly interacting particle which is neutral and absolutely stable. We consider the possibility that there are several coexisting…
The subjects of this thesis are the invisible axion and the more general family of axion-like particles. The invisible axion is a hypothetical elementary particle and a cold dark matter candidate. I present an improved computation of the…