The X-ray telescope of the CAST experiment

Author

Kotthaus, R. ; Bräuninger, H. ; Friedrich, P. ; Hartmann, R. ; Kang, D. ; Kuster, M. ; Lutz, G. ; Strüder, L.

Author_Institution

Max-Planck-Inst. fur Phys., Munchen

Volume

2

fYear

2005

fDate

23-29 Oct. 2005

Firstpage

1067

Lastpage

1071

Abstract

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) searches for solar axions employing a 9 tesla superconducting dipole magnet equipped with 3 independent detection systems for X-rays from axion-photon conversions inside the 10 m long magnetic field. Results of the first 6 months of data taking in 2003 imply a 95% CL upper limit on the axion-photon coupling constant of g_agamma < 1.16times10^-10 GeV^-1 for axion masses m_a < 0.02 eV. The most sensitive detector of CAST is an X-ray telescope consisting of a Wolter I type mirror system and a fully depleted pn-CCD as focal plane detector. Exploiting the full potential of background suppression by focussing X-rays emerging from the magnet bore, the axion sensitivity obtained with telescope data taken in 2004, for the first time in a controlled laboratory experiment, will supersede axion constraints derived from stellar energy loss arguments

Keywords

X-ray apparatus; astronomical telescopes; axions; charge-coupled devices; position sensitive particle detectors; semiconductor counters; superconducting magnets; CAST experiment; CERN Axion Solar Telescope; Wolter I type mirror system; X-ray telescope; axion mass; axion-photon conversions; axion-photon coupling constant; focal plane detector; fully depleted pn-CCD; solar axions; stellar energy loss; superconducting dipole magnet; Couplings; Magnetic fields; Magnetic moments; Mirrors; Samarium; Superconducting magnets; Telephony; Telescopes; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2005 IEEE

Conference_Location

Fajardo

ISSN

1095-7863

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9221-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.2005.1596436

Filename

1596436