Particle Physics

The thorium-229 nucleus has a unique, low-lying isometric state allowing for laser spectroscopic investigations that are otherwise only accessible in electronic transitions. Here, we report on the first resonant laser excitation of the Th-229 nucleus. The fluorescence signal is observed from two Th-229 doped CaF2 crystals that enable us to determine the center frequency of 2020.409(7) THz corresponding to 148.3821(5) nm of the nuclear transition. The fluorescence lifetime in the crystal is 630(15) s, corresponding to an isomer half-life of 1740(50) s for a nucleus isolated in vacuum. These results pave the way towards high-resolution nuclear laser spectroscopy of Th-229 and an optical nuclear clock with high sensitivity in fundamental tests. This is work done in a cooperation of PTB and TU Wien: J. Tiedau et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 182501 (2024)

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is the upcoming next-generation ground-based very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatory. The CTAO will significantly advance the study of VHE gamma-rays through a combination of wider field of view,  substantially increased detection area, and superior angular and spectral resolution over an energy range extending from tens of GeV to hundreds of TeV. Full-sky coverage will be achieved using two independent Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) arrays: one in the northern hemisphere (Canary Islands, Spain) and one in southern hemisphere (Paranal, Chile). The CTAO will explore a wide range of science topics in high-energy astrophysics, including the origin of higher-energy cosmic rays, mechanisms for particle acceleration in extreme environments, and astroparticle phenomena that may extend the Standard Model of particle physics.  In this talk, I will outline the broad science potential of the CTAO and provide the CTAO’s current status and timeline. I will also describe the contributions of the CTAO-US collaboration to CTAO, including the development of an ultra-high resolution Schwarzschild-Couder telescope for VHE astronomy and the emergence of UV-band optical astronomy at the sub-100 micro-arcsecond angular scale.

The matter power spectrum on subgalactic scales is very weakly constrained so far. While inflation predicts a nearly scale-invariant primordial power spectrum down to very small scales, many new physics scenarios can lead to significantly different predictions, such as axion dark matter in the post-inflationary scenario, vector dark matter produced during inflation, early matter domination, kinetic misalignment axions, self-interacting dark matter, atomic dark matter, etc. Therefore, any successful measurement on the matter power spectrum tests inflation extensively and probes early universe dynamics and the nature of dark matter, making it a new frontier in cosmology and dark matter physics. We proposed observing fast radio bursts (FRB) with solar-system scale interferometry by sending radio telescopes to space, which allows us to greatly expand the sensitivity on the matter power spectrum from Mpc to AU scales. Two sightlines looking at the same FRB source can sample different regions of the Universe in the transverse direction and thus obtain an arrival time difference that depends on the matter power spectrum. Our calculations show that this setup will be sensitive to the scale-invariant power spectrum predicted by inflation on small scales and can also probe QCD axion miniclusters predicted in the post-inflationary scenario.