Speaker
Description
As one of NASA’s proposed Probe Explorers missions, the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) is designed to improve on the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton. AXIS is designed to deliver low-background, arcsecond imaging over a broad $0.3-10$ keV energy range, with an extensive grasp of $1.6\times10^6\textrm{ cm}^2\textrm{ arcmin}^2$ at 1 keV. These capabilities will enable AXIS to probe a new region of parameter space for decaying dark matter candidates such as axion-like particles (ALPs) and sterile neutrinos via X-ray line searches. We present an initial study of AXIS’s prospects for detecting such signals, finding potential lifetime sensitivities of order $\sim 10^{30}$ s in the keV range, surpassing current limits by one to two orders of magnitude.