Axions: Fundamentals to Frontiers
A four-part lecture series delivered by Frank Wilczek as part of the Cosmology Seminar Series at Arizona State University in Spring 2026. The series traces the axion from the theoretical gap that motivated it, through its role in cosmology, to the experimental efforts now searching for it.
Lecture 1: T Symmetry and the θ Parameter
Date: February 27, 2026
Speaker: Frank Wilczek, MIT
Faculty Host: Alex Rojewski
Abstract: A crisis and an opportunity. The standard model has an explanatory gap.
Lecture 2: PQ Symmetry, the Axion Lagrangian, Laboratory and Astrophysical Constraints
Speaker: Frank Wilczek, MIT
Abstract: To close the gap, we must introduce a strange new kind of particle: the axion.
Lecture 3: Axion Cosmology
Date: March 6, 2026
Speaker: Frank Wilczek, MIT
Faculty Host: Alex Rojewski
Abstract: Axions can provide the cosmological "dark matter." And good ideas.
Lecture 4: Looking for the Cosmic Axion Background
Date: March 27, 2026
Speaker: Frank Wilczek, MIT
Faculty Host: Sang-Eon Bak
Abstract: Detecting the cosmic axion background is challenging, but not hopeless.
About the series
The Cosmology Seminar Series is organized by Arizona State University's Cosmology Initiative together with the Department of Physics, and is held at the Goldwater Center on the Tempe campus. Axions are among the concepts Frank Wilczek introduced and named, and they remain a major focus of research worldwide.