A study carried out by IPFN researchers and recently published in Physical Review D, suggests a new method of axion production in unstable magnetized plasmas. “With this method, we can improve the sensitivity of axion prospecting experiments up to several orders of magnitude, on parameters not yet explored”, explains Hugo Terças, Técnico professor (Department of Physics) and one of the authors of the study.

The axion is an hypothetical particle that appears in extensions of the Standard Model. Initially, axions were a proposed solution to solve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics. Now, they are the most prone candidates for dark matter.

Professors Tito Mendonça, João Rodrigues and Hugo Terças have taken nearly a year to develop this study, which ended up in this new method of axion production. It started with the intention of studying the interaction between axions and plasmas. “We had in mind some vague consequences on cosmological scales, but we never thought we could carry out this study as a laboratory experiment”, recalls professor Hugo Terças.

The authors believe that, if this experiment is implemented, it could help to better understand the dark matter. “This study will help to understand whether or not axions are the most prone candidates for dark matter”, stresses professor Hugo Terças. “If the results are negative, we may exclude some possible values of the axion mass; if they are positive, we would prove their existence and it would be amazing”, points out the Técnico professor.