First Search for Axion-Like Particles in a Storage Ring Using a Polarized Deuteron Beam
Creators: name: Karanth, Swathi
name: Stephenson, Edward J.
name: Chang, Seung Pyo
name: Hejny, Volker
name: Pretz, Jörg
name: Semertzidis, Yannis K.
name: Wirzba, Andreas
name: Wrońska, Aleksandra
name: Abusaif, Falastine
name: Aksentev, A.
name: Alberdi, Benat
name: Aggarwal, Anjali
name: Andres, Achim
name: Barion, Luca
name: Bekman, Ilja
name: Beyss, M.
name: Böhme, Christian
name: Breitkreutz, B.
name: von Byern, C.
name: Canale, Nicola
name: Ciullo, Guiseppe
name: Dymov, Sergey
name: Fröhlich, Nils-Oliver
name: Gebel, Ralf
name: Grigoryev, Kirill
name: Grzonka, Dieter
name: Hetzel, Jan
name: Javakhishvili, Otari
name: Jeong, Hoyong
name: Kacharava, Andro
name: Kamerdzhiev, Vsevolod
name: Keshelashvili, Irakli
name: Kononov, A.
name: Laihem, Karim
name: Lehrach, Andreas
name: Lenisa, Paolo
name: Lomidze, Nodar
name: Lorantz, Bernd
name: Magiera, Andrzej
name: Mchedlishvili, David
name: Müller, Fabian
name: Nass, Alexander
name: Nikolaev, Nikolay N.
name: Park, Seongtae
name: Pesce, Andrea
name: Ponzca, Vera
name: Prasuhn, Dieter
name: Rathmann, Frank
name: Saddique, Saad
name: Saleev, Artem
name: Shurkno, N.
name: Shergelaskvili, Dito
name: Shmakova, Vera
name: Slim, Jamal
name: Soltner, Helmut
name: Stassen, Rolf
name: Ströher, Hans
name: Tabidze, Mirian
name: Tagliente, Giuseppe
name: Valdau, Yuri
name: Vitz, Maximilian
name: Wagner, Tim
name: Wüstner, Peter
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Based on the notion that the local dark-matter field of axions or axion-like particles (ALPs) in our Galaxy induces oscillating couplings to the spins of nucleons and nuclei (via the electric dipole moment of the latter and/or the paramagnetic axion-wind effect), we establish the feasibility of a new method to search for ALPs in storage rings. Based on previous work that allows us to maintain the in-plane polarization of a stored deuteron beam for a few hundred seconds, we performed a first proof-of-principle experiment at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY to scan momenta near 970 MeV/c. This entailed a scan of the spin precession frequency. At resonance between the spin precession frequency of deuterons and the ALP-induced EDM oscillation frequency there will be an accumulation of the polarization component out of the ring plane. Since the axion frequency is unknown, the momentum of the beam and consequently the spin precession frequency were ramped to search for a vertical polarization change that would occur when the resonance is crossed. At COSY, four beam bunches with different polarization directions were used to make sure that no resonance was missed because of the unknown relative phase between the polarization precession and the axion/ALP field. A frequency window of 1.5-kHz width around the spin precession frequency of 121 kHz was scanned. We describe the experimental procedure and a test of the methodology with the help of a radiofrequency Wien filter located on the COSY ring. No ALP resonance was observed. As a consequence an upper limit of the oscillating EDM component of the deuteron as well as its axion coupling constants are provided.
description: 27 pages, 24 figures, 7 tables, 104 references