Detecting the QCD Axion via the Ferroaxionic Force with Piezoelectric Materials

Area of Science:

• Particle Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Cosmology

Background:

• The Standard Model of particle physics has limitations, and the existence of axions is a leading hypothesis to explain dark matter and the strong CP problem.
• QCD axions are hypothetical particles predicted by quantum chromodynamics (QCD) that could mediate new forces.
• Piezoelectric materials exhibit unique electromechanical properties, but their potential role in axion physics remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel method for sourcing virtual QCD axions using piezoelectric materials.
• To investigate the generation of a new axion-mediated force.
• To explore a new experimental window for detecting QCD axions.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing spontaneous parity violation in piezoelectric crystals and time-reversal violation from aligned spins to break symmetry.
• Enhancing the effective in-medium scalar coupling of axions to nucleons.
• Proposing a detection scheme based on nuclear spin precession induced by axion pseudoscalar coupling.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated that piezoelectric materials can serve as sources for virtual QCD axions.
• Achieved an effective in-medium scalar coupling of the axion to nucleons up to seven orders of magnitude larger than in vacuum.
• Proposed a resonant enhancement technique for the axion detection signal.

Conclusions:

• Piezoelectric materials offer a promising platform for generating and detecting QCD axions.
• The proposed detection scheme enables sensitivity to QCD axions in the mass range of 10^{-5} eV to 10^{-2} eV.
• This work opens new experimental possibilities for probing axion physics and fundamental symmetries.