Particle and Astroparticle Physics Colloquium Hamburg

Forum on New Results from WISP Searches

by Andrei Lobanov (Hamburg University and MPIfR, Bonn), Matthias Schwarz (Hamburg Observatory), Michael Betz (CERN)

Europe/Berlin
Auditorium (DESY Hamburg)

Auditorium

DESY Hamburg

Description
Michael Betz: Results of the CERN Resonant WISP Search (CROWS)
Matthias Schwarz: Results of the Solar Hidden Photon Search (SHIPS)
Andrei Lobanov: First results of the WISP Dark Matter Experiment (WISPDMX)

There is a strong physics case for very weakly coupled slim (in the sense of ultralight) particles (WISPs), such as axions, axion-like particles and hidden photons. In many theoretically appealing extensions of the Standard Model, WISPs occur automatically. Moreover, they are natural cold dark matter candidates and can explain some puzzles observed in astrophysics, such as the anomalous transparency of the Universe for high and very high energy gamma rays and the anomalous cooling of white dwarfs and red giants. A significant portion of WISP parameter space can be tackled in this decade by a number of terrestrial experiments which exploit the WISP coupling to photons. In this Forum, we will learn about the recent results of the CERN Resonant WISP Search (CROWS), the Solar Hidden Photon Search (SHIPS) at the Hamburg Observatory and the WISP Dark Matter Experiment (WISPDMX) at the University of Hamburg.