Absorption of Axion Dark Matter in a Magnetized Medium
Detection of axion dark matter heavier than a meV is hindered by its small wavelength, which limits the useful volume of traditional experiments. This problem can be avoided by directly detecting in-medium excitations, whose $$\sim \text{meV} - \text{eV}$$ energies are decoupled from the detector size. We show that for any target inside a magnetic field, the absorption rate of electromagnetically-coupled axions into in-medium excitations is determined by the dielectric function. As a result, the plethora of candidate targets previously identified for sub-GeV dark matter searches can be repurposed as broadband axion detectors. We find that a $$\text{kg} \cdot \text{yr}$$ exposure with noise levels comparable to recent measurements is sufficient to probe parameter space currently unexplored by laboratory tests. Noise reduction by only a few orders of magnitude can enable sensitivity to the QCD axion in the $$\sim 10 \ \text{meV} - 10 \ \text{eV}$$ mass range.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1983798
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB-23-168-SQMS-T; arXiv:2305.05681; oai:inspirehep.net:2658391
- Journal Information:
- TBD, Journal Name: TBD
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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