Simulation of classical axion electrodynamics using COMSOL multiphysics

Abstract

The axion is a hypothetical particle motivated to address the strong CP problem, and is one of the appealing dark matter candidates. Numerous experimental searches for dark matter axions have been proposed relying on their coupling with photons. The classical equations of motion for the axion-photon coupling are well known but need to be fully computed for complex experimental setups. The partial differential equations of axion electrodynamics can be numerically solved using finite element methods. In this work, we simulate axion electrodynamics using COMSOL Multiphyics, a commercially available simulation software, for various experimental schemes, including the dish antenna haloscope, cavity haloscope, dielectric haloscope, and axion-photon regeneration. We show that the numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical solutions.