The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) has extended its search for solar axions by using (3)He as a buffer gas. At T=1.8 K this allows for larger pressure settings and hence sensitivity to higher axion masses than our previous measurements with (4)He. With about 1 h of data taking at each of 252 different pressure settings we have scanned the axion mass range 0.39 eV≲m(a)≲0.64 eV. From the absence of excess x rays when the magnet was pointing to the Sun we set a typical upper limit on the axion-photon coupling of g(aγ)≲2.3×10(-10) GeV(-1) at 95% C.L., the exact value depending on the pressure setting. Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov axions are excluded at the upper end of our mass range, the first time ever for any solar axion search. In the future we will extend our search to m(a)≲1.15 eV, comfortably overlapping with cosmological hot dark matter bounds.

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope has finished its search for solar axions with (3)He buffer gas, covering the search range 0.64 eV ≲ ma ≲ 1.17 eV. This closes the gap to the cosmological hot dark matter limit and actually overlaps with it. From the absence of excess x rays when the magnet was pointing to the Sun we set a typical upper limit on the axion-photon coupling of gaγ ≲ 3.3 × 10(-10)  GeV(-1) at 95% C.L., with the exact value depending on the pressure setting. Future direct solar axion searches will focus on increasing the sensitivity to smaller values of gaγ, for example by the currently discussed next generation helioscope International AXion Observatory.

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In preparation for the heavy ion program of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, accumulation and cooling tests with lead ion beams have been performed in the Low Energy Antiproton Ring. These tests have revealed that due to the unexpected large outgassing of the vacuum system, the dynamic pressure of the ring could not be maintained low enough to reach the required beam intensities. To determine the actions necessary to lower the dynamic pressure rise, an experimental program has been initiated for measuring the molecular desorption yields of stainless steel vacuum chambers by the impact of 4:2 MeV=u lead ions with the charge states 27 and 53. The test chambers were exposed either at grazing or at perpendicular incidence. Different surface treatments (glow discharges, nonevaporable getter coating) are reported in terms of the molecular desorption yields for H 2 , CH 4 , CO, Ar, and CO 2 . Unexpected large values of molecular yields per incident ion up to 2 10 4 molecules=ion have been observed. The reduction of the ion-induced desorption yield due to continuous bombardment with lead ions (beam cleaning) has been investigated for five different stainless steel vacuum chambers. The implications of these results for the vacuum system of the future Low Energy Ion Ring and possible remedies to reduce the vacuum degradation are discussed.