Collaborative Research: Novel Cavity Haloscopes for Axion Dark Matter at CM-Wavelengths

合作研究：CM 波长下轴子暗物质的新型腔光镜

• 批准号: 2209576
• 负责人: Chao-Lin Kuo
• 金额: $ 44.99万
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-15 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209576&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Novel; Cavity; Haloscopes

Astronomical observations have established that the Universe is primarily “dark” with approximately 85% of the matter made of yet unknown particles. Uncovering the nature of this dark matter will have far reaching consequences in cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics. The quantum chromodynamic (QCD) axion arises in an extension of the Standard Model of particle physics that would simultaneously solve the mystery of dark matter and the long-standing strong charge-parity problem. This award supports researchers at Stanford University and the University of Washington in the development of a novel axion detector called a haloscope that will improve the scan rate of axion dark matter experiments by more than three orders of magnitude at frequencies between 4 – 7 GHz. The awarded activities include outreach and education via a Summer Research Program for Teachers, and a mentorship program for graduate students in the training of undergraduate researchers. Above frequencies of approximately 4 GHz , corresponding to an axion particle mass of a few tens of micro-electronvolts, there exists a large sensitivity gap between current measurements and the theoretical benchmarks. Improving the scan rate at these frequencies is crucial to enhancing the reach of axion search experiments. The large gain of the new haloscope design is achieved by implementing a space-filling thin-shell cavity that decouples the resonator’s volume from its resonant frequency. A full-sized science-grade cavity will be fabricated and installed in an existing 250mK testbed to demonstrate tunability and high quality factor under cryogenic conditions. The cavities will also be integrated with a Josephson Junction-based amplifier and a digitizer to obtain new exclusion limits on searches for dark photons. These developments establish key preparations for future axion searches involving large-volume solenoid magnet systems like those currently utilized for the ADMX project.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.

天文观察结果表明，宇宙主要是“黑暗”，约有85％由未知粒子制成的物质。揭示这种暗物质的性质将在宇宙学，天体物理学和粒子物理学中产生巨大的影响。量子染色体动力学（QCD）轴轴是出现在粒子物理学的标准模型的扩展过程中，这些模型只会解决暗物质的神秘和悠久的强烈电荷 - 准则问题。该奖项为斯坦福大学和华盛顿大学的研究人员提供了支持，开发了一个名为Haloscope的新型轴突检测器，该检测器将在4 - 7 GHz之间的频率下提高轴突暗物质实验的扫描速率。颁发的活动包括通过夏季研究计划的宣传和教育，以及针对本科研究人员培训的研究生的心态计划。高于大约4 GHz的频率，对应于几十微电伏的轴颗粒质量，在当前测量和理论基准之间存在较大的灵敏度差距。在这些频率下提高扫描速率对于增强轴突搜索实验的覆盖率至关重要。新的Haloscope设计的巨大增益是通过实现空间填充的薄壳缓存来实现的，该缓存将谐振器的音量与谐振频率脱在一起。全尺寸的科学级腔将被制造并安装在现有的250MK测试床上，以证明在低温条件下的可线性和高质量因子。该腔体还将与基于约瑟夫森连接的放大器和数字化器集成，以在搜索黑照片时获得新的排除限制。这些事态发展为未来的斧头搜索建立了关键的准备，涉及大型螺线管磁铁系统，例如当前用于ADMX项目的磁铁磁铁系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。