Searching for axions with kaon decay at rest
Creators
Abstract
We describe a novel search strategy for axions (or hadronically coupled axionlike particles) in the mass range of mₐ ≲ 350 MeV. The search relies on kaon decay at rest, which produces a monoenergetic signal in a large volume detector (e.g., a tank of liquid scintillator) from axion decays a → γγ or a → e⁺e⁻. The decay modes K⁺ → π⁺a and a → γγ are induced by the axion’s coupling to gluons, which is generic to any model which addresses the strong CP problem. We recast a recent search from MicroBooNE for e⁺e⁻ pairs and study prospects at JSNS² and other near-term facilities. We find that JSNS² will have world-leading sensitivity to hadronically coupled axions in the mass range of 40 MeV ≲ mₐ ≲ 350 MeV.
Copyright and License
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Funding
Funded by SCOAP3.
Acknowledgement
Files
PhysRevD.109.L031702.pdf
Files
(466.4 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:e270576ea9b2c7886fb710843774c110
|
466.4 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Identifiers
- ISSN
- 2470-0029
Funding
- SCOAP3
- National Science Foundation
- PHY-2210452
- United States Department of Energy
- DE-SC0011842
- United States Department of Energy
- DEAC02-07CHI11359
- United States Department of Energy
- DE-SC0011632
- California Institute of Technology
- Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics