台灣軸子偵測實驗室TASEH首波物理結果- 尋找質量為 19.6 微電子伏特的軸子暗物質

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Hsin Chang, Jing-Yang Chang, Yi-Chieh Chang, Yu-Han Chang, Yuan-Hann Chang, Chien-Han Chen, Ching-Fang Chen, Kuan-Yu Chen, Yung-Fu Chen, Wei-Yuan Chiang, Wei-Chen Chien, Hien Thi Doan, Wei-Cheng Hung, Watson Kuo, Shou-Bai Lai, Han-Wen Liu, Min-Wei OuYang, Ping-I Wu, and Shin-Shan Yu (TASEH Collaboration)

First Results from the Taiwan Axion Search Experiment with a Haloscope at 19.6 μ eV

軸子為熱門的暗物質候選人之一。在外加強磁場的影響之下,軸子有機會轉換成光子。如果偵測器裡的微波共振腔共振頻率對應到了光子頻率,經過低噪放大器的放大信號,我們有機會探測到軸子的存在。台灣軸子偵測實驗室(TASEH)用在2021年10月13日至11月15日所取的數據,尋找了軸子暗物質。我們的結果排除了軸子-雙光子耦合常數大於8.1 x 10-14 GeV-1的理論模型。在19.4687 至19.7639微電子伏特這個質量範圍,我們對理論模型的敏感度比之前實驗還要好三個數量級。

One of the viable dark matter candidates is the axion. An axion in an external magnetic field can convert to an equal-energy photon. The converted photons can be accumulated in a cavity with a matched resonant frequency and subsequently be detected by a low-noise linear amplifier. The Taiwan Axion Search Experiment with a Haloscope (TASEH) has performed a search for axions, using the data collected from October 13, 2021 to November 15, 2021. The results of TASEH excludes models with the axion-two-photon coupling |gaγγ|8.1 x 10-14 GeV-1. It is the first time that a haloscope experiment places constraints in the mass region of 19.4687 < ma < 19.7639 μeV, reaching a sensitivity 3 orders of magnitude better than the limits obtained by nonhaloscope experiments.

TASEH實驗裝置的簡單示意圖
(a) 氦稀釋冷凍機的剖面圖 (b) TASEH實驗裝置的照片
TASEH實驗結果所設的軸子-雙光子耦合常數上限值和過去其他實驗的比較