DPNC seminars

First axion dark matter searches with MADMAX

by Prof. Pascal Pralavorio (Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France)

Europe/Zurich
Grand Auditorium (Ecole de physique)

Grand Auditorium

Ecole de physique

Description

Dark matter is supported by a growing variety of astrophysical and cosmological measurements, but its very nature remains one of the big mystery of particle  physics. Among the most prevalent explanations, dark matter could be explained by a new undiscovered particle. Among all the candidates, axion is one the best-motivated as it can also explain the absence of CP violation in the QCD sector.

The MAgnetized Disk and Mirror Axion eXperiment (MADMAX) is a future experiment aiming to detect dark matter axions from the galactic halo by resonant conversion to photons in a strong magnetic field. It uses a novel concept based on a stack of dielectric disks, called booster, to enhance the potential signal from axion-photon conversion over a significant mass range. In its final version, MADMAX will scan the uncharted QCD axion mass range around 100 mu-eV, favoured by post-inflationary theories. Several small scale prototypes have been tested these last three years, allowing to validate the novel dielectric haloscope concept and perform competitive axion and dark photon dark matter searches. This seminar will give an overview of these results. The next foreseen steps towards the final detector will also be discussed.