Stimulated emission of dark matter axion from condensed matter excitations

Beyond the Standard Model

23 May 2018

Japanese scientists are exploring the existence of hypothetical particles called axions, which could lead to a breakthrough in the search for dark matter, according to a study in the Journal of High Energy Physics.

Even though the Standard Model provides the best description of the structure and nature of our universe, it doesn’t provide a complete picture, and important questions remain unanswered, such as what is dark matter, which makes up over a quarter of the mass of the Universe. 

Researchers from the Advanced Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University believe that axions, hypothetical particles that are promising candidates for dark matter, may be present in the galactic halos that surround spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.

By investigating the emission of magnetic vortices in superconductors, they may have discovered a signature for axions, leading to a major advance in the search for dark matter.

Supported content

References

1. J. High Energ. Phys. 22, 2018. doi: 10.1007/jhep01(2018)022