MADMAX: A Dielectric Haloscope Experiment

Abstract

Axions emerge naturally from the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism which addresses the absence of CP violation in QCD; the axions produced through the "vacuum realignment mechanism" are also a good cold dark matter (CDM) candidate. If PQ symmetry breaking had occurred after inflation, the axion mass is likely to fall in the range of 26 µeV to 1 meV, which is yet to be explored experimentally. We present a novel dielectric haloscope experiment dedicated to the direct detection of the axions that constitute the local galactic dark matter halo in the mass range of 40 to 400 µeV-the MAgnetized Disc and Mirror Axion eXperiment (MADMAX). Multiple dielectric discs and a metal mirror are placed in a strong magnetic field to utilize the axion-induced coherent electromagnetic waves emitted from each disc surface and their resonances within the discs-mirror system, such that the axion-induced signal can be boosted to a level detectable by state-of-the-art low noise amplifiers. The design and sensitivity of MADMAX, ongoing R&D activities and the project roadmap are presented.

Light Dark Matter Axion Detection with Static Electric Field

“…The axion-photon coupling g aγ allows the dark matter axion convert into photons inside a laboratory's electromagnetic fields, and is being actively searched for by cavity haloscopes including ADMX [23], HAYSTAC [24], CAPP [25], ORGAN [26], CAST-RADES [27], QUAXaγ [28], TASEH [29], DANCE [30], non-cavity experiments such as ABRACADARA [31], high-frequency dielectric design like MADMAX [32], and many others. For recent reviews of axion search methods, see Ref.…”