Speaker
Pierre Sikivie
(University of Florida)
Description
The axion is a hypothetical particle motivated by the Strong CP Problem
of elementary particle physics and by the dark matter problem of cosmology.
Cold dark matter axions are naturally produced during the QCD phase
transition in the early universe by a process of vacuum realignment.
They may be detected on Earth by converting them to photons in an
electromagnetic cavity permeated by a strong magnetic field. I'll
describe various axion detection techniques and report on experimental
efforts under way. Finally we will consider the question whether axions
behaves differently from other forms of dark matter on astronomical
scales.
Primary author
Pierre Sikivie
(University of Florida)
