Proposal for a Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)

By Dmitry Budker, P. Graham, M. Ledbetter, S. Rajendran, A. Sushkov. 2013

444 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We propose an experiment to search for QCD axion and axionlike-particle dark matter. Nuclei that are interacting with the background axion dark matter acquire time-varying C P -odd nuclear moments such as an electric dipole moment. In analogy with nuclear magnetic resonance, these moments cause precession of nuclear spins in a material sample in the presence of an electric field. Precision magnetometry can be used to search for such precession. An initial phase of this experiment could cover many orders of magnitude in axionlike-particle parameter space beyond the current astrophysical and laboratory limits. And with established techniques, the proposed experimental scheme has sensitivity to QCD axion masses m a ≲ 1 0 - 9 eV , corresponding to theoretically well-motivated axion decay constants f a ≳ 1 0 16 GeV . With further improvements, this experiment could ultimately cover the entire range of masses m a ≲ μ eV , complementary to cavity searches.

Subfields: Artificial Intelligence, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0b246a6b13e05f42406fc3d7ee6440142f49f953

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Artificial Intelligence

1. M. White
2. Luca Visinelli
3. S. Watson
4. F. Cyr-Racine
5. Raphael Flauger
6. A. Hook
7. A. Lewis
8. Lloyd Knox

In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

1. E. Kovetz
2. Luca Visinelli
3. R. Somerville
4. S. Watson
5. A. Hook
6. M. White
7. A. Lewis
8. Lloyd Knox

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. S. Vagnozzi
2. E. di Valentino
3. S. Allen
4. David N. Spergel
5. Mark Halpern
6. A. Mantz
7. M. White
8. Edward J. Wollack

Citations in the corpus

• The landscape of QCD axion models (2020, methodology): “We have also reported the forecasts for the sensitivities of various experiments, either planned or already running, including the Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr) [290], A Broadband/Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus (ABRACADABRA) [”
• Search for Axionlike Dark Matter through Nuclear Spin Precession in Electric and Magnetic Fields (2017, background): “Furthermore, we constrain a region of axion masses that is complementary to proposed “on-resonance” experiments in ferroelectrics [86].”
• CMB-S4 Science Case, Reference Design, and Project Plan (2019, background): “, ADMX [343] already in operation, or CASPEr [344], in progress) and CMB-S4 could probe HI in the range 2.”
• TASI Lectures on the Strong CP Problem and Axions (2018, methodology): “CASPER [158] uses NMR to hunt for the axion.”