Hunting for Axions and WISPs with cutting-edge photon sensors
by
Cantatore Giovanni
(Trieste Universita & INFN)
→
Europe/Madrid
IFAE Seminar room (IFAE)
IFAE Seminar room
IFAE
Description
The search for Axions and for other WISPs, Weakly Interacting Slim Particles, has recently picked up considerable pace.
Precision experiments looking for WISPs use a panoply of advanced techniques, explore a sector of particle physics outside the Standard Model in and are complementary to accelerator experiments.
In most searches the main signature for WISPs is their interaction with photons: low background, high efficiency photon counters are crucial and is where a large research effort is directed. Other signatures, such as the direct coupling to matter by chameleons, are however also open for exploitation.
We will briefly discuss a panorama of experiments and techniques, concentrating on the CAST helioscope, which uses different kinds of photon counters. It has the potential to be upgraded with new high-performance photon sensors, such as Transition Edge Sensors, and with novel detectors, such as optomechanical sensors to detect pressure from a flux of solar chameleons. These recent developments will de described, along with their perspectives in IAXO, the International AXion Observatory, a next generation solar magnetic telescope already proposed to CERN.