TONIGHT- A talk about Axions, this should be good

[+Derbyshire Dave]

 Sorry for the late notice. I attennded a talk by Ed Daw about gravitational waves last year and it was fantastic, and very informative. Since then the team with whom Ed is involved have been awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. Talk is at Chesterfield Observatory, details are in thiis link..

 

http://www.chesterfield-as.org.uk/

 

TALK DESCRIPTION

 

A Talk About Axions by Professor Ed Daw

Prof Daw is part of the Nobel Prize winning LIGO team and has previously talked to us about gravitational waves.  The interferometers are undergoing a year long upgrade and gravitational waves are on hold so…

“For many years astronomers and physicists have been embarrassed by our lack of understanding of the matter content of the Universe. 90% of the matter in galaxies and 25% of cosmic matter is missing, meaning that it remains undetected by conventional astronomical instruments, and yet is necessary to explain why galaxies, galaxy clusters, and cosmic background radiation evolve the way they do. And, also for many years, the prevalent theory on the solution to the dark matter conundrum has been Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). But, since the LHC and ever-more-sensitive direct search experiments have failed so far to detect any WIMPs, attention is turning to alternative theories involving axions. I shall explain the heritage of axions, their properties if they are the dark matter, and the experiments we use to search for them. I shall also show you some of the most recent research by my group on an experimental technique that could ‘turbo-charge’ future experiments hunting for the elusive axion field.”