Probing Axion‐Like‐Particles at the CERN Gamma Factory
Reuven Balkin, Mieczyslaw W. Krasny, Teng Ma, Benjamin R. Safdi, Yotam Soreq
Abstract
Abstract The aim of the proposed CERN Gamma Factory is to produce ≈10 17 photons per second with energies up to 400 MeV. The photon beam intensity is expected to be a factor of larger than that of the presently available photon beams in the MeV energy range. In this work, its potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model is explored. In particular, searches for axion like particles (ALPs) with dominant couplings to photons are discussed and various production scenarios—fixed target, photon–photon collision, and conversion by a magnetic field—and detection schemes considered—via decay to photons or back‐conversion. It is found that the Gamma Factory in a fixed target mode can probe ALPs with mass and decay constants larger than 10 7 GeV, improving by an order of magnitude the discovery potential of previous beam dump experiments.