Collaborative Research: Axion Resonant InterAction DetectioN Experiment (ARIADNE)

多个天文观测已经确定，宇宙中大约85%的物质不是由已知粒子组成的。破译这种所谓的暗物质的性质对宇宙学、天体物理学和高能粒子物理学具有根本的重要性。粒子物理学中最令人兴奋的任务之一是寻找超越粒子物理学标准模型的新粒子。标准模型的扩展不仅预测了具有大质量的新粒子，而且预测了一些具有非常小质量的新粒子。轴子就是这样一个候选者，它被引入来解释量子色动力学中电荷宇称（CP）破坏的微小性，它也是宇宙中暗物质成分的主要候选者。该奖项将为研发提供资金，用于开发一项新的实验，以寻找亚毫米范围内原子核之间的轴子相互作用。在参与这项研究的同时，一个由博士后，研究生和本科生研究人员组成的团队将接受实验原子物理学各种技术的广泛培训，如低温物理，磁屏蔽，真空系统和建模。该实验涉及一个旋转的非磁性质量源的轴子场，和一个密集的合奏激光偏振的He-3核检测的轴子场的NMR。通过在核自旋进动频率处适当地调制轴子势，可以共振地增强来自轴子场的信号。该方法有可能提高以前的实验和天体物理界的几个数量级的轴子和探测深入到理论上有趣的制度Peccei-Quinn（PQ）轴子。该实验对更奇特的类轴子粒子也很敏感。据估计，这种方法最终可以超过目前实验室对自旋相关短程力的限制多达8个数量级，并且可以在f_a在10^9和10^12之间的素数轴子范围内将实验室/天体物理极限提高10^4倍，深入探索PQ轴子理论上有趣的区域。与宇宙轴子搜索相反，即使轴子不构成大部分暗物质，该装置对轴子也很敏感。

Multiple astronomical observations have established that about 85% of the matter in the universe is not made of known particles. Deciphering the nature of this so-called Dark Matter is of fundamental importance to cosmology, astrophysics, and high-energy particle physics. One of the most exciting quests in particle physics is the search for new particles beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Extensions of the Standard Model predict not only new particles with large masses but also some with very small masses. Such a candidate is the axion, which has been introduced to explain the smallness of Charge-Parity (CP) violation in Quantum Chromodynamics and which turns out to also be a prime candidate for a constituent of the dark matter in the universe. This award will provide funds for R&D towards developing a new experiment to search for axion-like interactions between nuclei at sub-millimeter ranges. While participating in this research, a team of postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate researchers will be broadly trained in the various techniques of experimental atomic physics such as low-temperature physics, magnetic shielding, vacuum systems and modeling. The experiment involves a rotating non-magnetic mass to source the axion field, and a dense ensemble of laser-polarized He-3 nuclei to detect the axion field by NMR. The signal from an axion field can be resonantly enhanced by properly modulating the axion potential at the nuclear spin precession frequency. The method has the potential to improve previous experimental and astrophysical bounds on axions by several orders of magnitude and probe deep into the theoretically interesting regime for the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion. The experiment is also sensitive to more exotic axion-like particles. It is estimated that this method can ultimately exceed present laboratory constraints on spin-dependent short-range forces by up to eight orders of magnitude and can improve on the combined laboratory/astrophysical limits by a factor of 10^4 in the prime axion range of f_a between 10^9 and 10^12, probing deep into the theoretically interesting regime for the PQ axion. In contrast to cosmic axion searches, the setup is sensitive to the axion even if it does not make up most of the dark matter.