Giampaolo Carosi (LLNL): "Searching for Dark Matter Axions with the ADMS Experiment"

Wednesday 29 Aug 2018, 12:00 → 13:00 US/Pacific

4001 (050)

Abstract:

The nature of dark matter is one of the great mysteries of modern physics today and could be from new particles beyond the standard model. The  Axion, originally conceived as a solution to the strong-CP problem in nuclear

physics, is one well-motivated candidate. The Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX), as a DOE Gen 2 Project, is the flagship search for axions in the United States. ADMX uses a large microwave cavity immersed in a strong static magnetic field to resonantly convert dark matter axions to detectable photons. Recently ADMX has completed its first data run with unprecedented sensitivity in the classical QCD-axion mass range of several μeV. In this talk I will describe the history of axion dark matter searches, describe the recent ADMX results and near term search prospects and give a survey of the R&D efforts currently underway to explore the entire axion dark matter mass window. In addition I will describe some of the related R&D work at LLNL on quantum sensors that could open new paths for dark matter detection among other applications.”

Bio Sketch:
“Dr. Gianpaolo Carosi is a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) with a primary research focus in direct dark matter axion searches and quantum detector development. Dr. Carosi obtained his Bachelors in Physics from Harvey Mudd College (2000) and a Ph.D in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2006). His thesis focused on indirect dark matter searches with the AMS Cosmic Ray  experiment, currently sited on the International Space Station. Dr. Carosi worked as a postdoctoral research on the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX) at LLNL starting in 2006 and transition to staff in 2009. He is currently Co-spokesman of the ADMX experiment, now a DOE Office of Science “Generation 2” Dark Matter Project. He is a DOE Early Career Research Award recipient (2012-2017) with a focus on Microwave Cavity development for dark matter axion searches. In addition to his work on axion research, he is involved in research on superconducting quantum sensors and has worked in the past on national security applications involving fast neutron detection and gamma-ray imaging.”