skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The next generation of axion helioscopes: The international axion observatory (IAXO)

Journal Article · · Physics Procedia
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [4];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [2];  [7];  [4];  [12];  [13];  [7] more »;  [14];  [12];  [15];  [16];  [17];  [2];  [2];  [7];  [7];  [17];  [18];  [2];  [19];  [7];  [7];  [20];  [21];  [22];  [23];  [24];  [7];  [7];  [25];  [26];  [11];  [26];  [27];  [13];  [28];  [29];  [27];  [4];  [13];  [27];  [30];  [14];  [16];  [7];  [31];  [12];  [30];  [7];  [2];  [1];  [32];  [32];  [14];  [4];  [1];  [33];  [16];  [28];  [34];  [4];  [35];  [4];  [4];  [36];  [19];  [4];  [37];  [2];  [7];  [4];  [38];  [39];  [9];  [40] « less
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. CEA Irfu, Centre de Saclay, Gif-sur-yvette (France)
  3. Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
  4. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneve (Switzerland)
  5. eIPHT, Centre d’E´tudes de Saclay (CEA-Saclay), Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  6. Sezione di Trieste and Univ. di Trieste, Trieste (Italy)
  7. Univ. de Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain)
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. Dogus Univ., Istanbul (Turkey)
  10. Univ. of Haifa, Haifa (Israel)
  11. Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark)
  12. St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, St. Petersburg (Russia)
  13. Physikalisches Institut der Univ. Bonn, Bonn (Germany)
  14. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  15. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland)
  16. Aristotle Univ., Thessaloniki (Greece)
  17. National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens (Greece)
  18. Univ. de Valencia, Valencia (Spain)
  19. Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow (Russian Federation)
  20. Ben Gurion Univ. Beer Sheva (Israel)
  21. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  22. Kyoto Univ. (Japan)
  23. Technische Univ. Darmstadt, Darmstadt (Germany)
  24. Univ. Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
  25. Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai, Bellaterra (Spain)
  26. Univ. Heidelberg, Heidelberg (Germany)
  27. Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb (Croatia)
  28. Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)
  29. Univ. of Rijeka (Croatia)
  30. CEA Irfu, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  31. Kyoto Univ., Kyoto (Japan)
  32. Max-Planck-Institut fur Physik, Munich (Germany)
  33. Tokyo Inst. of Technology, Tokyo (Japan)
  34. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  35. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
  36. Univ. de Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain)Univ. de Zaragoza, Zaragoza (Spain)
  37. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  38. Univ. of Cape Town (South Africa)
  39. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  40. Univ. of Patras, Patras (Greece)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) is a proposed 4th-generation axion helioscope with the primary physics research goal to search for solar axions via their Primakoff conversion into photons of 1 – 10 keV energies in a strong magnetic field. IAXO will achieve a sensitivity to the axion-photon coupling gaγ down to a few ×10⁻¹² GeV⁻¹ for a wide range of axion masses up to ~ 0.25 eV. This is an improvement over the currently best (3rd generation) axion helioscope, the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), of about 5 orders of magnitude in signal strength, corresponding to a factor ~ 20 in the axion photon coupling. IAXO’s sensitivity relies on the construction of a large superconducting 8-coil toroidal magnet of 20 m length optimized for axion research. Each of the eight 60 cm diameter magnet bores is equipped with x-ray optics focusing the signal photons into ~ 0.2 cm² spots that are imaged by very low background x-ray detectors. The magnet will be built into a structure with elevation and azimuth drives that will allow solar tracking for 12 hours each day. This contribution is a summary of our papers [1, 2, 3] and we refer to these for further details.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1196904
Journal Information:
Physics Procedia, Vol. 61, Issue C; ISSN 1875-3892
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (42)

Detection rates for ‘‘invisible’’-axion searches journal December 1985
Solar chameleons journal August 2010
Direct search for solar axions by using strong magnetic field and X-ray detectors journal August 1998
The Born rule fails in cosmology journal July 2009
Axion constraints from white dwarf cooling times journal January 1986
The x-ray telescope of CAST journal June 2007
Production of dark matter axions from collapse of string-wall systems journal May 2012
The Superconducting Toroid for the New International AXion Observatory (IAXO) journal June 2014
Experimental Tests of the "Invisible" Axion journal October 1983
Mixed axion/neutralino cold dark matter in supersymmetric models journal June 2011
WISPy cold dark matter journal June 2012
A decommissioned LHC model magnet as an axion telescope
  • Zioutas, K.; Aalseth, C. E.; Abriola, D.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 425, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(98)01442-9
journal April 1999
Towards a new generation axion helioscope journal June 2011
Problem of Strong P and T Invariance in the Presence of Instantons journal January 1978
Light shining through walls journal May 2011
Phantom cosmology as a scattering process journal June 2007
THE NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPIC TELESCOPE ARRAY ( NuSTAR ) HIGH-ENERGY X-RAY MISSION journal May 2013
Rare event searches based on Micromegas detectors: the T-REX project journal July 2012
Search for solar axions with mass around 1 eV using coherent conversion of axions into photons journal October 2008
String axiverse journal June 2010
Super-GZK photons from photon–axion mixing journal May 2003
Indications for a pair-production anomaly from the propagation of VHE gamma-rays journal February 2012
A faraway quasar in the direction of the highest energy Auger event journal August 2010
Design for a practical laboratory detector for solar axions journal April 1989
Search for sub-electronvolt solar axions using coherent conversion of axions into photons in magnetic field and gas helium journal May 2002
Evidence for a New Light Boson from Cosmological Gamma-Ray Propagation?
  • Roncadelli, Marco; De Angelis, Alessandro; Mansutti, Oriana
  • FRONTIERS OF FUNDAMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS: 9th International Symposium, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2947673
conference January 2008
The type IIB string axiverse and its low-energy phenomenology journal October 2012
Relevance of axionlike particles for very-high-energy astrophysics journal November 2011
The strong CP problem revisited journal January 1988
Axions and the white dwarf luminosity function journal June 2009
The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR): optics overview and current status conference July 2010
Axions and the Cooling of White Dwarf Stars journal July 2008
Search for solar axions journal October 1992
CP Conservation in the Presence of Pseudoparticles journal June 1977
A New Light Boson? journal January 1978
Status of R&D on Micromegas for Rare Event Searches : The T-REX project journal January 2012
Photon propagation and the very high energy γ-ray spectra of blazars: how transparent is the Universe? journal March 2009
Photo-Production of Neutral Mesons in Nuclear Electric Fields and the Mean Life of the Neutral Meson journal March 1951
Milky Way as a kiloparsec-scale axionscope journal March 2008
Photon propagation and the VHE gamma-ray spectra of blazars: how transparent is really the Universe? text January 2008
Mixed axion/neutralino cold dark matter in supersymmetric models text January 2011
Relevance of axion-like particles for very-high-energy astrophysics text January 2011

Cited By (4)

Axion-Plasmon Polaritons in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas journal May 2018
Searching for the possible signal of the photon-axionlike particle oscillation in the combined GeV and TeV spectra of supernova remnants journal December 2019
Axion miniclusters in modified cosmological histories journal January 2020
Axion Miniclusters in Modified Cosmological Histories text January 2018

Similar Records

IAXO - The International Axion Observatory
Journal Article · Wed Feb 13 00:00:00 EST 2013 · OSTI ID:1196904
Conceptual design of BabyIAXO, the intermediate stage towards the International Axion Observatory
Journal Article · Mon May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online) · OSTI ID:1196904
+123 more
Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
Journal Article · Mon Jun 24 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics · OSTI ID:1196904
+88 more

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
dark matter
axion
strong CP problem
helioscopes
IAXO
ALP
astroparticle physics