Axions
Axions are hypothetical particles whose existence would explain an otherwise bizarre “coincidence” in our core theories (standard model) of fundamental physics. Frank named axions and looks forward to their experimental discovery. Axions are well suited to providing the mysterious cosmological dark matter. Frank is Project Scientist for the ALPHA collaboration, one of several major efforts around the world aimed at detecting the cosmic axion background. The game is afoot. Presently Frank is developing a new approach to the foundations of axion theory that avoids introducing an anomalous PQ “symmetry” explicitly. It relieves some worries about possible instability against gravitational corrections; paper and link to come.
More on Axions
Popular article: Time’s (Almost) Reversible Arrow. PDF
Pioneer paper: Problems of Strong P and T Invariance in the Presence of Instantons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 279 (1977). PDF
Pioneering paper: Cosmology of Invisible Axions (with J. Preskill and M. Wise), Phys. Lett. B120, 127 (1983). PDF
Pioneering paper: metamaterial detector: Tunable axion plasma haloscopes (2019) (with Matthew Lawson, Alexander J.Millar, Matteo Pancaldi, Edoardo Vitagliano) arXiv:1904.11872 [hep-ph]. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 141802 520 (2019) NORDITA-2019-038, MIT-CTP-5116.. PDF
ALPHA design paper:
Design of ALPHA Phase I: A Plasma Haloscope for 10–20 GHz Post-Inflation Axions.