Masha Baryakhtar (NYU) ” New Physics Across the Spectra”

ABSTRACT:

Theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics often predict new, light, feebly interacting particles whose discovery requires novel search strategies. A light particle, the QCD axion, elegantly solves the outstanding strong-CP problem of the Standard Model; cousins of the QCD axion can also appear, and are natural dark matter candidates. First, I will discuss my experimental proposal based on thin films, in which dark matter can efficiently convert to detectable single photons. A prototype experiment is underway, and current techniques promise to reach significant new dark matter parameter space.

Second, I will show how rotating black holes turn into axionic beacons. When an axion’s Compton wavelength is comparable to a black hole size, energy and angular momentum from the black hole source exponentially-growing bound states of particles. I will discuss new results on axion interactions, including new dynamics in the bound states, and show how black holes populate the universe with axion waves that can be detected in future laboratory searches.