Axion dark matter: What is it and why now?

Chadha-Day, Francesca; Ellis, John; Marsh, David J.E.

Abstract

The axion has emerged in recent years as a leading particle candidate to provide the mysterious dark matter in the cosmos, as we review here for a general scientific audience. We describe first the historical roots of the axion in the Standard Model of particle physics and the problem of charge-parity invariance of the strong nuclear force. We then discuss how the axion emerges as a dark matter candidate and how it is produced in the early universe. The symmetry properties of the axion dictate the form of its interactions with ordinary matter. Astrophysical considerations restrict the particle mass and interaction strengths to a limited range, which facilitates the planning of experiments to detect the axion. A companion review discusses the exciting prospect that the axion could be detected in the near term in the laboratory.

Citation

Chadha-Day, F., Ellis, J., & Marsh, D. J. (2022). Axion dark matter: What is it and why now?. Science Advances, 8(8), https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj3618

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 14, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2022
• Publication Date: Feb 25, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 9, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 9, 2022
• Journal: Science Advances
• Electronic ISSN: 2375-2548
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj3618
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1211999