Collaborative Research: Axion Resonant InterAction DetectioN Experiment (ARIADNE)

合作研究：轴子共振相互作用检测实验（ARIADNE）

• 批准号: 1826505
• 负责人: Andrew Geraci
• 金额: $ 0.02万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1826505&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Axion; Resonant; InterAction

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.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

多次天文观察结果表明，宇宙中约有85％的物质不是由已知粒子制成的。破译这种所谓的暗物质的性质对于宇宙学，天体物理学和高能粒子物理学至关重要。粒子物理学中最令人兴奋的任务之一是在粒子物理的标准模型之外寻找新粒子。标准模型的扩展不仅可以预测具有较大质量的新粒子，而且还可以预测一些质量很小的颗粒。这样的候选者是斧头，它被引入是为了解释量子染色体动力学中电荷 - 差异（CP）违规的较小性，事实证明这也是宇宙中暗物质组成部分的主要候选者。该奖项将为开发新实验提供研发的资金，以搜索亚毫米范围内的核之间的轴突样相互作用。在参与这项研究的同时，一组博士后，研究生和本科研究人员将接受广泛的培训，以实验原子物理学的各种技术，例如低温物理，磁性屏蔽，真空系统和建模。该实验涉及一个旋转的非磁性质量来源，并具有激光偏振的He-3核的致密集合，以检测NMR的轴突场。可以通过在核自旋进液频率下正确调节轴突电位来共鸣的信号。该方法具有通过几个数量级上的几个数量级上的轴上的实验和天体物理界限的潜力，并深入探测了Peccei-Quinn（PQ）轴上的理论上有趣的制度。该实验也对更外来的轴突样颗粒敏感。据估计，该方法最终可以超过旋转依赖性的短距离力的当前实验室限制，最多可以通过八个数量级，并且可以在10^9和10^12之间的F_A的素轴范围内提高实验室/天体物理限制的组合限制10^4倍，并深入理论上有趣的PQ Aximime。与宇宙轴搜索相反，即使不构成大部分暗物质，该设置也对轴敏很敏感。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来审查标准的评估值得支持的。