2024/11/28 by Fernando Arias-Aragón, Arias-Aragón, Fernando, Maurizio Giannotti +5 · 1 citation
Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Biofield Effects and Biophysics #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.19327
openalex publication_date 2024/11/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
We revisit and update the axion-induced pair production process in a nuclear electric field mediated by the axion-electron coupling, a+AZX → AZX + e+ + e-. This process emerges as one of the most efficient channels for detecting axions with energies above a few MeV in large underground detectors. It is particularly relevant for detecting axions produced in nuclear reactions, such as the p+d~→~ 3 He~+~a(5.5 MeV) reaction in the solar pp-chain, and for axions originating in supernovae. Despite recent interest in detecting high-energy axions, the pair production process has received limited attention, even in scenarios where it is the dominant detection channel. This study fills this gap by demonstrating that pair production is a highly effective detection mechanism for high-energy axions. We apply our results to axions from supernovae and the solar 5.5 MeV line, recasting the current bounds of Borexino and comparing the detection capabilities of the JUNO and Hyper-Kamiokande detectors.