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First results from the CERN axion solar telescope
K Zioutas1, S Andriamonje, V Arsov
1Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Physical Review Letters
|May 21, 2005
Summary
Scientists searched for hypothetical axionlike particles from the sun using an axion helioscope. No signal was detected, setting a new upper limit on axion-photon coupling for these solar axions.
Area of Science:
- Particle Physics
- Astroparticle Physics
- Cosmology
Background:
- Axionlike particles are hypothetical particles proposed to solve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics.
- These particles can interact with photons, potentially being produced in the Sun via the Primakoff process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To search for axionlike particles produced in the Sun.
- To set experimental limits on the axion-photon coupling constant.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) experiment, employing a decommissioned Large Hadron Collider test magnet as an axion helioscope.
- Data were collected for approximately 6 months in 2003, searching for x-ray signals produced by axion-to-photon conversion in the magnetic field.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant excess of events above the background noise was observed.
- An upper limit on the axion-photon coupling constant was established: g(agamma)<1.16x10(-10) GeV-1 at 95% confidence level for axion masses m(a) less, similar 0.02 eV.
Conclusions:
- The experiment provides an assumption-free limit on axion-photon coupling.
- This limit is comparable to astrophysical bounds from stellar energy loss and more restrictive than previous experimental limits over a wide range of axion masses.