The search continues, only our head is in the clouds
The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle postulated by the Peccei–Quinn theory in 1977 to resolve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics(QCD). If axions exist and have low mass within a specific range, they are of interest as a possible component of cold dark matter.
The experiment conducted by Rizzo’s team differed from the approach of the Italian researchers in the fact that at the end of a vacuum chamber, an aluminium plate was placed[6] to prevent photons from an adjacent laser from passing through the plate, where axions would simply pass through the plate and be converted back into photons,[6] and were able to observe a small-portion of the supposed-converting particles—to the number of 4×1022 photons.[6]
A term analogous to the one that must be added to Maxwell’s equations[15] also appears in recent theoretical models fortopological insulators.[16] This term leads to several interesting predicted properties at the interface between topological and normal insulators.[17] In this situation the field θ describes something very different from its use in high-energy physics.[17]
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