Japanese Physicists Propose Earth's Magnetic Field as Axion Dark Matter Detector
Physicists in Japan have proposed a novel method to detect axions, a leading candidate for dark matter, by utilizing Earth's magnetic field. Axions are hypothesized to interact with electromagnetic forces, and according to models, they should sometimes decay into photons in strong magnetic fields. While astronomers have traditionally searched for these signatures around neutron stars or supernovae, the Japanese team suggests looking closer to home. They hypothesize that if axions are streaming through the planet, they should resonate between Earth's surface and the ionosphere, generating electromagnetic waves at a frequency corresponding to their mass. Crucially, the strength of Earth's magnetic field varies by location, meaning the axion signal would weaken near the planet's poles and be strongest around Southeast Asia. This variation in signal strength based on location could differentiate axions from other dark matter candidates like dark photons, which would produce a consistent signal globally. The re...
