Improved receiver noise calibration for ADMX axion search: 4.54 to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mn>5.41</mml:mn><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mi>μeV</mml:mi></mml:mrow
Axions are a well-motivated candidate for dark matter. The preeminent method to search for axion dark matter is known as the axion haloscope, which makes use of the conversion of axions to photons in a large magnetic field. Because of the weak coupling of axions to photons, however, the expected signal strength is exceptionally small. To increase signal strength, many haloscopes make use of resonant enhancement and high gain amplifiers, while also taking measures to keep receiver noise as low as possible such as the use of dilution refrigerators and ultra-low-noise electronics. In this paper, we derive the theoretical noise model based on the sources of noise found within a typical axion haloscope receiver chain, using the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) as a case study. We present examples of different noise calibration measurements at 1280 MHz taken during ADMX’s most recent data-taking run. These new results shed light on a previously unidentified interaction between the cavity and Josephson Parametric Amplifier as well as provide a better understanding of the systematic uncertainty on the system noise temperature used in the axion search analysis for this data-taking run. Finally, the consistency between the measurements and the detailed model provide suggestions for future improvements within ADMX and other axion haloscopes to reach a lower noise temperature.
Authors
- Irfan Siddiqi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2200-1090)
- C. Hanretty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5341-528X)
- S. Knirck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5714-4545)
- A. Sonnenschein
- T. Braine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0925-7967)
- John Clarke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6402-7841)
- Andrew K. Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8822-3844)
- N. Woollett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0178-1665)
- G. Carosi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0130-6979)
- P. Sikivie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7874-6265)
- M. O. Withers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6012-7730)
- S. Ruppert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8334-7082)
- M. Guzzetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6866-8291)
- Ben T. McAllister (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1774-1705)
- C. Gaikwad
- E. J. Daw
- A. Quiskamp
- M. G. Perry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4877-0867)
- E. Hartman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2226-8605)
- N. S. Sullivan
- Dan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2910-5805)
- L. D. Duffy
- R. Khatiwada
- J. H. Buckley
- D. B. Tanner
- T. A. Dyson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4816-4480)
- Craig A. Goodman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5874-7743)
- L. J Rosenberg
- J. R. Gleason
- C. Bartram
- A. S. Chou
- A. T. Hipp
- M. S. Taubman
- G. Rybka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9973-1564)
- M. E. Tobar
- Kater Murch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-294X)
- E. Lentz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7807-4825)
- J. Sinnis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0130-8934)
- N. Robertson
- C. Mostyn
- J. H. Hoffman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8072-3799)
- N. S. Oblath
- M. Hollister
- Maxim Goryachev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0257-4054)
- T. J. Caligiure (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9348-5239)
- C. L. Kuo
- C. Boutan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1470-1946)
- C. Cisneros
- John A. Russell
- M. E. Solano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5752-656X)
- N. Du
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Illinois Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- University of California System (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-05-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.092012
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Battelle
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- University of Sheffield
- Swinburne University of Technology
- Office of Science
- High Energy Physics
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Fermilab
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory