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arXiv · 2209.12901

Discovering QCD-Coupled Axion Dark Matter with Polarization Haloscopes

Asher Berlin·Kevin Zhou
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Abstract

In the presence of QCD axion dark matter, atoms acquire time-dependent electric dipole moments. This effect gives rise to an oscillating current in a nuclear spin-polarized dielectric, which can resonantly excite an electromagnetic mode of a microwave cavity. We show that with existing technology such a "polarization haloscope" can explore orders of magnitude of new parameter space for QCD-coupled axions. If any cavity haloscope detects a signal from the axion-photon coupling, an upgraded polarization haloscope has the unique ability to test whether it arises from the QCD axion.

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Asher Berlin, Kevin Zhou. 2022-09-26. Discovering QCD-Coupled Axion Dark Matter with Polarization Haloscopes. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.108.035038

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