Speaker
Description
Axion-like particles (ALPs) appear in many beyond-the-Standard-Model theories, either as candidates for dark matter or as partners of the axion that explains the apparent conservation of charge-parity symmetry, known as the strong CP problem. In this talk, I will present a novel method for probing ALPs using eclipsing binary systems which can serve as an astrophysical realization of light-shining-through-walls experiments. Such systems are composed of a neutron star that is bright in X-rays and a larger companion star, through which ALPs produced via conversion in the neutron star's magnetosphere can pass during the eclipse. The ALPs then partially reconvert into photons in the interstellar medium on their way to Earth, and the resulting X-rays are detectable by space observatories such as XMM-Newton.