WIDG Seminar: Samantha Pagan, Yale, “A Search for Solar Axions with CUORE”

Abstract: The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment searching for neutrinoless double-beta in Te-130. An observation of this ultra-rare decay would determine that neutrinos are Majorana particles. As an extremely low background experiment with high energy resolution and exposure, CUORE is sensitive to other rare-event searches such as for solar axions and Axion Like Particles (ALPs). Axions are a well-motivated dark matter candidate that could also provide a solution for the QCD Strong CP problem. In this talk, I will discuss the prospects of performing a solar axion search with CUORE data.
The CUORE Upgrade with Particle IDentification (CUPID) is the proposed next-generation experiment of CUORE. CUPID will reach increased discovery sensitivities by building off of the knowledge and infrastructure from CUORE and reducing experimental backgrounds. At Yale, an active muon veto system is under development to mitigate muon-induced backgrounds. In this talk, I will also discuss work on designing the muon veto system.
This work is supported by the US DOE Office of Nuclear Physics, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1752134,
and internal investments at all institutions.
Host: Sophia Hollick (sophia.hollick@yale.edu)