Speaker
Description
Axions and axionlike particles (ALPs) are dark-matter candidates that occur in a variety of extensions of the Standard Model. They couple to photons in the presence of electromangetic fields, making them potentially detectable. Due to the ubiquitous presence of magnetic fields in the Universe, astrophysical sources are particularly well suited to search for traces of these particles.
I will give an overview over axion and ALP searches at gamma-ray energies. In particular, I will present constraints on the photon-ALP coupling derived from Fermi Large Area Telescope observations of the NGC 1275, the central galaxy of the Perseus cluster. The bounds are the strongest to date in the ALP mass range between 0.5 and 20 neV and surpass the sensitivity of future dedicated laboratory experiments. Further, I will give an outlook on future ALP searches using core-collapse supernovae and future gamma-ray instruments such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array and satellite missions.
