an intruder in the neutrino schooland to finish...THE AXION

CAST: The CERN Axion Solar Telescope

Iñaki OrtegaISAPP 2013

LSC, Canfranc

What are axions?

Proposed to solve the called “Strong CP problem”

New pseudo-scalar field. First proposed by Peccei and Quinn. Particle interpretation by Weinberg and Wilczek

Some properties of the axion:

Solution to CP problem and candidate to Dark Matter

is like a ghost!!

-Practically stable

- Very low mass

- Very low cross-section

Axion couples to photon: Primakoff effect

The future helioscope

IAXO The International AXion Observatory

-Optimized magnet: figure of merit ~300 bigger than CAST

-Low background detectors: big experience from CAST

- X ray optics: great improvement of signal to noise ratio

Thank you very much for your attention!

I hope you have enjoyed this school as much as I have!!