Robert Ziegler: Exploring flavored Axion Dark Matter on Earth, the Stars and in the Universe

Thursday 10 Feb 2022, 10:15 → 11:00 Europe/Ljubljana

https://zoom.us/j/3601731049?pwd=bVNQRjUxU2ExZ0cveWcxYXNUUGdjZz09 (Zoom)

Standard Model extensions with a light stable axion are well motivated by the observed Dark Matter abundance and the Peccei-Quinn solution to the Strong CP Problem. Axions can in general have flavor-violating couplings to SM fermions, which naturally arise in scenarios where the Peccei-Quinn symmetry also explains the hierarchical pattern of fermion masses and mixings. I will discuss how these couplings allow for effficient axion production from the decays of SM particles, giving the opportunity to probe flavor-violating couplings with precision flavor experiments, astrophysics and cosmology. In particular flavor factories will play an important role in complementing conventional axion searches with halo- and helioscopes, and constraining light flavored Dark Matter in general.