Abstract
We propose a novel method to search for axion-like particles (ALPs) at particle accelerator experiments. ALPs produced at the target via the Primakoff effect subsequently enter a region with a magnetic field, where they are converted to photons that are then detected. Dubbed Particle Accelerator helioScopes for Slim Axion-like-particle deTection (PASSAT), our proposal uses the principle of the axion helioscope but replaces ALPs produced in the Sun with those produced in a target material. Since we rely on ALP-photon conversions, our proposal probes light (slim) ALPs that are otherwise inaccessible to laboratory-based experiments which rely on ALP decay, and complements astrophysical probes that are more model-dependent. As a first application, we reinterpret existing data from the NOMAD experiment in light of PASSAT, and constrain the parameter space for ALPs lighter than sim 100~mathrm{eV} and ALP-photon coupling larger than sim 10^{-4}~mathrm{GeV}^{-1}. As benchmarks of feasible low-cost experiments improving over the NOMAD limits, we study the possibility of re-using the magnets of the CAST and the proposed BabyIAXO experiments and placing them at the proposed BDF facility at CERN, together with some new detectors. We find that these realizations of PASSAT allow for a direct probe of the parameter space for ALPs lighter than sim 100~mathrm{eV} and ALP-photon coupling larger than sim 4times 10^{-6}~mathrm{GeV}^{-1}, which are regions that have not been probed yet by experiments with laboratory-produced ALPs. In contrast to other proposals aiming at detecting single or two-photon only events in hadronic beam dump environments, that rely heavily on Monte Carlo simulations, the background in our proposal can be directly measured in-situ, its suppression optimized, and the irreducible background statistically subtracted. Sensitivity evaluations with other beams will be the subject of a future paper. The measurements suggested in this paper represent an additional physics case for the BDF at CERN beyond those already proposed.
Highlights
Introduction and motivationsThe QCD axion [1,2,3] and more general pseudo-scalar axionlike-particles (ALPs), which are ubiquitous in string theory [4,5], are a major focus of searches for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM)
We have proposed a novel method to search for ALPs at particle accelerator experiments
Our results suggest that PASSAT should probe a wide range of parameter space that none of the laboratory-produced ALP search experiments have ever explored
Summary
The QCD axion [1,2,3] and more general pseudo-scalar axionlike-particles (ALPs), which are ubiquitous in string theory [4,5], are a major focus of searches for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The experimental ecosystem investigating these particles is vast and rich. The techniques often rely on the ALP-photon coupling: Lint ⊃ − 1 4 gaγ γ a F μν Fμν (1). ALPs can convert to photons and vice versa in the presence of an external magnetic field, leading to experiments based on the axion haloscope and the axion helioscope [6,7,8]. Photon regeneration (light shining through wall, LSW) experiments [9] attempt to actively produce ALPs with a high-intensity laser beam applied in a magnetic field, followed by detecting the produced photons via ALP-photon conversion. We refer to Ref. [10] for a recent review of these topics
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