Axions as a probe of solar metals

TL;DR

Detecting solar axions via helioscopes like IAXO could reveal detailed information about the Sun's interior composition, especially metallicity, by analyzing characteristic emission peaks, thus providing a new probe of solar physics and particle physics.

Contribution

This paper demonstrates that future axion helioscopes can measure solar metallicity by detecting axion emission peaks, linking particle physics with solar interior studies.

Findings

Helioscopes can measure elemental emission peaks with good precision.

Improved atomic modeling is necessary for unambiguous elemental abundance determination.

Axion detection can serve as a novel probe of solar metallicity.

Abstract

If axions or axion-like particles exist and are detected, they will not only extend the standard model of particle physics but will also open a new way to probe their sources. Axion helioscopes aim to detect axions which are produced in the core of the sun. Their spectrum contains information about the solar interior and could in principle help to solve the conflict between high and low metallicity solar models. Using the planned International Axion Observatory (IAXO) as an example, we show that helioscopes could measure the strength of characteristic emission peaks caused by the presence of heavier elements with good precision. In order to determine unambiguously the elemental abundances from this information, an improved modelling of the states of atoms inside the solar plasma is required.