PIRSA:23040068

Polarized Signatures of Axions at Magnetic White Dwarfs

Dessert, C. (2023). Polarized Signatures of Axions at Magnetic White Dwarfs. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/23040068

Dessert, Christopher. Polarized Signatures of Axions at Magnetic White Dwarfs. Perimeter Institute, Apr. 11, 2023, https://pirsa.org/23040068 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:23040068,
            doi = {10.48660/23040068},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/23040068},
            author = {Dessert, Christopher},
            keywords = {Particle Physics},
            language = {en},
            title = {Polarized Signatures of Axions at Magnetic White Dwarfs},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2023},
            month = {apr},
            note = {PIRSA:23040068 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Christopher Dessert New York University (NYU)

DOI 10.48660/23040068
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

I will discuss a novel search for axions using spectropolarimetric observations of magnetic white dwarfs (MWDs). Photons produced as thermal radiation at the MWD surface may convert into an axion as they traverse the magnetosphere, but only the component polarized parallel to the MWD magnetic field. Therefore the MWD radiation at Earth is linearly polarized perpendicular to the magnetic field direction. I detail the analysis of archival linear polarization spectra of a few nearby MWDs that excludes the axion interpretation of the TeV gamma-ray transparency anomalies. I briefly discuss the sensitivity of ongoing and future searches using dedicated data at the Lick Observatory.

Zoom Link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97657182582?pwd=ZlFYWWtoYXhQZUtnOUxsZFpqMUo1Zz09