Engineering topics

Benabou, Joshua N.

Publications and source records attributed to Benabou, Joshua N..

3 records

DOE OSTI2025

Search for Axions in Magnetic White Dwarf Polarization at Lick and Keck Observatories

We present the most sensitive search to date for light axion-like particles with masses below a micro-eV, using spectropolarimetric data collected from the Lick and Keck Observatories. The conversion of optical photons emitted from the surface of a magnetic white dwarf (MWD) into axions in the strong magnetic field around the star induces a nearly wavelength-independent linear polarization in the observed starlight. We analyze the Stokes parameters $(U, Q, I)$ measured with the Kast spectrograph at the Lick Observatory toward the MWDs SDSS J033320+000720 and ZTF J190132+145807, and with the LRISp-ADC instrument at the Keck Observatory toward ZTF J190132+145807, SDSS J002129+150223, and SDSS J100356+053825 to search for this effect. The data show no evidence of axion-induced linear polarization, and we set world-leading constraints on the axion-photon coupling $|g_{aγγ}| \lesssim 1.7 \times 10^{-12} \,\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}$ at the $95\%$ confidence level for masses $m_a \lesssim 2 \times 10^{-7}\,\mathrm{eV}$.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

DOE OSTI2025

Clearing up the Strong $CP$ problem

The absence of a neutron electric dipole moment (EDM) constrains the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) theta angle to be less than one part in ten billion, posing the Strong $CP$ problem. We revisit two classes of proposed solutions. First, we show that when $P$ or $CP$ is realized as a gauged discrete symmetry - as can arise in quantum gravity - the vacuum necessarily preserves $CP$, contrary to recent claims that discrete-symmetry solutions fail. Gauged discrete models face model-building challenges, such as avoiding contributions to the neutron EDM after spontaneous $P$ or $CP$ breaking, but in principle have no fundamental obstructions. Second, we critically examine recent arguments that the Strong $CP$ problem is illusory, demonstrating that a nonzero neutron EDM at finite $\barθ$ follows directly from well-understood QCD dynamics. Taken together, our results reinforce the reality of the Strong $CP$ problem and highlight gauged discrete-symmetry realizations of $P$ or $CP$ as plausible solutions.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

DOE OSTI2024

Cosmological dynamics of string theory axion strings

The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion may solve the strong CP problem and explain the dark matter (DM) abundance of our Universe. The axion was originally proposed to arise as the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of global U⁢(1) PQ Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking, but axions also arise generically in string theory as zero modes of higher-dimensional gauge fields. In this work we show that string theory axions behave fundamentally differently from field theory axions in the early Universe. Field theory axions may form axion strings if the PQ phase transition takes place after inflation. In contrast, we show that string theory axions do not generically form axion strings. In special inflationary paradigms, such as D-brane inflation, string theory axion strings may form; however, their tension is parametrically larger than that of field theory axion strings. We then show that such QCD axion strings overproduce the DM abundance for all allowed QCD axion masses and are thus ruled out, except in scenarios with large warping. A loop-hole to this conclusion arises in the axiverse, where an axion string could be composed of multiple different axion mass eigenstates; a heavier eigenstate could collapse the network earlier, allowing for the QCD axion to produce the correct DM abundance and also generating observable gravitational wave signals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗