Searching for Axions: Applications of Quantum Information to High Energy Physics
Abstract: Advancements in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity design have the potential to enable searches for new particles with weak couplings to photons. We will discuss applications of this technology to precision measurement of new particles with weak couplings to electromagnetism, highlighting the benefits of the high quality factors and long coherence times demonstrated by the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) Center at Fermilab. As an example, we will motivate the quantum chromodynamics axion, a potential new particle capable of solving both the strong CP problem and the dark matter problem, and use Maxwell’s equations modified by the axion to demonstrate that SRF cavities with quality factors of order 10e12 can probe previously unexplored parameter space of the axion. We will then briefly introduce the wide class of new physics models which can be probed using similar methods and conclude with a discussion of challenges and future work.
This talk is intended for local QIS researchers at the University of Illinois; please do not share it more broadly.
