Author: Ian O'Neill

The hypothetical axion is a particle that might help scientists work out where the bulk of dark matter may be held in the Universe. So far, there has been much talk about the search for another type of hypothetical particle, the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), and little attention has been paid to the lowly axion. WIMPs are very appealing to scientists as proving they exist will help patch some holes in quantum theory. What’s more, WIMP detectors need to be huge, large volumes of underground caverns filled with hi-tech sensors and cleaning fluid – this makes for a cool funding proposal; think up and grand idea, explain that it will prove our understanding of the Universe and then receive a multi-billion $/£/€ cheque (it’s not quite as easy as that, but there are socioeconomic and political reasons for building such an awesome structure).

So how do you go about finding an axion? Surely this exotic particle will need an even bigger detector, especially as it has zero charge, very low mass and cannot interact via the strong and weak nuclear forces? Actually, a large WIMP-type detector would be useless for axion detection. Fortunately axions have a neat interaction with magnetic fields that can be detected with existing instrumentation. What produces the strongest magnetic field in the Solar System? This is where the Sun can help out…
Continue reading “Is the Sun a Dark Matter Factory?”