Speaker: Itay Bloch
Title: Matter Induced Deformation of Axion Dark Matter Profiles
Room: 3024
Host: John Terning
Abstract: In this talk, I will present my latest work on how Earth’s matter density impacts wave‐like axion dark matter, especially when we properly account for the axion’s virial momentum. I begin by explaining why the zero‐momentum approximation can misleadingly predict divergences in the axion field. I will map out the parameter space where these matter‐momentum effects become most relevant and discuss how they modify—and sometimes improve—our experimental prospects for discovering ultralight axion‐like particles in terrestrial settings. I highlight two crucial effects at Earth’s surface: first, the axion field amplitude can be noticeably suppressed compared to the standard values, and second, the radial gradient of the axion field can be enhanced, potentially boosting signals in experiments that are sensitive to gradient couplings, such as spin‐precession or “axion wind” measurements. The work is an early step in exploring the rich phenomenology of this effect. I will finish by discussing some of the many directions we are currently considering for future exploration.
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High-Energy Seminars
Time:
1:30pm - 3:00pm
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Yes - 0 days 6 hour 0 minutes before start
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Speaker:
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Room: 3024
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Earth Day
User:
High-Energy Seminars
Time:
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Send Reminder:
Yes - 0 days 6 hour 0 minutes before start
Description:
Speaker: Katherine Fraser
Title: Axion Interactions with Topological Defects
Room: 3024
Host: Hsin-Chia Cheng
Abstract: Given that axions are both a promising candidate to solve problems in the Standard Model and are ubiquitous in quantum gravity, it is crucial to accurately determine their signatures. In this talk, we discuss how the axion's compact field space leads to interesting interactions with topological defects, specifically monopoles and strings. In the case of monopoles, we show that, due to the Witten effect, axions interacting with abelian gauge fields generate a potential for the axion from loops of magnetic monopoles, and discuss a simple phenomenological example where this potential is the dominant contribution to the axion mass. In the case of strings, we discuss superconductivity from massless chiral excitations along the string. We show that bulk fermions do not need to become massless in the core of the string for there to be trapped massless excitations, and explore the counterintuitive phase structure of these zero modes, which become less localized to the string as the mass is increased.
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