Search for dark matter axions at 1-2 micro-eV with a RADES-DarkQuantum haloscope at CERN

Alberto Arcusa Puente; Sergio Arguedas Cuendis; Marcos Buetas Mata; Sergio Calatroni; Cristian Cogollos; Alejandro Díaz-Morcillo; Babette Döbrich; Jacob Egge; Elisa Gabbrielli; Javier Galindo Guarch; Jose María García-Barceló; Benito Gimeno; Yikun Gu; Sophia Hollick; Igor Garcia Irastorza; David Kittlinger; Adrian Lambies-Asensio; Axel Lindner; Manuel Meyer; Adrián Muñoz-Urán; Jose R. Navarro-Madrid; Tobias Ortmann; Sagar Paul; Angel Rodriguez; Kristof Schmieden; Laura Segui; Wolfgang Wernsdorfer; Mina Yami

arXiv · 2611.07806

Search for dark matter axions at 1-2 micro-eV with a RADES-DarkQuantum haloscope at CERN

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Abstract

The QCD axion remains one of the most compelling candidates for the dark matter of the Universe, yet the mass range around $1$\text{--}\SI{2}{\micro\electronvolt} remains essentially unexplored. In this paper, we describe a proposal to employ CERN's M1 superconducting magnet to deploy a haloscope to perform a search for galactic axion and axion-like particle dark matter providing continuous coverage from approximately 1.2 to 1.8 \SI{}{\micro\electronvolt}. Under conservative assumptions, the experiment can reach the QCD axion band over a significant fraction of the scanned range, while optimistic detector performance would allow sensitivity to benchmark models such as KSVZ and DFSZ over a large part of the explored mass interval. With the current long shut-down of CERN's accelerators providing a unique and timely window, such an experiment will deliver high-impact results even in conservative scenarios and potentially delivering a definitive test of the axion dark matter paradigm in the unexplored $1$\text{--}\SI{2}{\micro\electronvolt} mass range.

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Alberto Arcusa Puente, Sergio Arguedas Cuendis, Marcos Buetas Mata, Sergio Calatroni, Cristian Cogollos, Alejandro Díaz-Morcillo, Babette Döbrich, Jacob Egge, Elisa Gabbrielli, Javier Galindo Guarch, Jose María García-Barceló, Benito Gimeno, Yikun Gu, Sophia Hollick, Igor Garcia Irastorza, David Kittlinger, Adrian Lambies-Asensio, Axel Lindner, Manuel Meyer, Adrián Muñoz-Urán, Jose R. Navarro-Madrid, Tobias Ortmann, Sagar Paul, Angel Rodriguez, Kristof Schmieden, Laura Segui, Wolfgang Wernsdorfer, Mina Yami. 2026-11-05. Search for dark matter axions at 1-2 micro-eV with a RADES-DarkQuantum haloscope at CERN. https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07806

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