Searching for axion dark matter with the dielectric haloscope MADMAX

by Dr Xiaoyue Li (Max Planck Institute, Germany)

Thursday 1 Apr 2021, 16:00 → 17:30 Asia/Shanghai

https://zoom.com.cn/j/65908374157 （id:65908374157，密码：123456） (Online)

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. Traditional cavity haloscope experiments such as ADMX have focused on the ~µeV mass range, leaving the theoretically well motivated mass range of ~100 µeV unexplored. We present a novel dielectric haloscope experiment dedicated to the direct detection of the axions that constitute the local galactic dark matter halo with mass of ~100 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. In this talk, I will discuss the motivations for a dielectric haloscope like MADMAX; the design and sensitivity of MADMAX, ongoing R&D activities and the project roadmap will also be presented.

 

Biography:

I studied physics at Wuhan University from 2008 to 2012, and obtained my PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in August 2018. Since then I have been working as a postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany. I was involved in T2K, Super-K and DUNE during my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Chang Kee Jung. My thesis is titled “A Joint Analysis of T2K Beam Neutrino and Super-Kamiokande Atmospheric Neutrino Data”. My current research is focused on the direct detection of local galactic dark matter axions with the dielectric haloscope concept.