Axions: From Deep QCD to Cosmology and a New Search Strategy - RHIC BES online seminar series

Abstract: Axions arise in the leading theoretical ideas to explain the accuracy of time-reversal symmetry in QCD. Both the problem and the potential solution involve deep, central ideas in quantum field theory and QCD. If axions exist, they’re very likely to contribute some of the dark matter that cosmologists need, and plausibly most of it. I will briefly review this classic material, and then discuss a promising new concept for detecting cosmic axions, the so-called plasmon haloscope, and the progress we’ve made (within the ALPHA collaboration) toward implementing it. In passing, I will touch on “emergent axions”, which have become a thriving topic in condensed matter physics.