A Search for Axion-like Particles at the Coherent CAPTAIN Mills Experiment
By: Edward C. Dunton
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2022
Place of publication: [New York, N.Y.?]
Language: eng
Description: While the standard model is enormously successful and internally self consistent, it does not explain a great number of phenomena and is far from a complete theory of particle interactions. Among these missing pieces are a particle theory of dark matter and the Strong CP problem in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). A hypothetical axion-like particle (ALP) is a prospective solution to both problems and can be searched for at accelerator produced beam dump experiments. Neutrino detectors can be used for such a search, due to the similar energy regimes and interactions channels of such detections. The Coherent CAPTAIN Mills (CCM) experiment at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANCSE) has carried out a search for these ALPs across a number of theoretical models, including dark sector variants and the light QCD axion. An initial run with 120 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) was used to identify 95\% confidence limits placed across parameter space using an engineering run, which identified several paths to improvement for a longer term search to probe the majority of theoretically motivated parameter space.
Notes: Department: Physics.

Thesis advisor: Michael Herman Shaevitz.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2022.