2003/04/15 by J. I. Collar, Collar, J. I.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Particle Detector Development and Performance #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph #hep-ex #hep-ph #nucl-ex #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ex/0304024
Presented at the SPIE conference on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Waikoloa, Hawaii, 2002. 5 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2003/04/15 · openalex publication_date 2003/04/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The new axion helioscope at CERN started acquiring data during September of 2002: CAST (Cern Axion Solar Telescope) employs a decommissioned LHC dipole magnet to convert putative solar axions or axion-like particles into detectable photons. The unprecedented dipole magnet intensity and length (9.5 T, 10 m) results in a projected sensitivity that surpasses astrophysical constraints on these particles for the first time, increasing the chance of discovery. The use of X-ray focusing optics and state-of-the-art detector technology has led to an extremely low background for an experiment above ground. A brief status report is given, with emphasis on the tracking and control system and possible future extensions.