CERN Axion Solar Telescope

CERN Axion Solar Telescope
	RADES detector at CAST
Successor	International Axion Observatory
Formation	Approved on 13 April 2000
Legal status	Taking data since 18 June 2003
Purpose	Search for dark matter and energy
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Fields	Astroparticle physics
Spokesperson	Konstantin Zioutas
Website	cast.web.cern.ch/CAST/

A warehouse interior containing a long blue cylinder surrounded by scaffolding and plumbing. — CAST. The telescope magnet (blue) pivots about the right-hand side, while the yellow gantry on the left of the picture rolls along a circular track in the floor and raises and lowers the left-hand side to track the sun.

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) is an experiment in astroparticle physics to search for axions originating from the Sun. The experiment, sited at CERN in Switzerland, was commissioned in 1999 and came online in 2002 with the first data-taking run starting in May 2003. The successful detection of solar axions would constitute a major discovery in particle physics, and would also open up a brand new window on the astrophysics of the solar core.

CAST is currently the most sensitive axion helioscope.^[1]

^ Vogel, J. K.; Avignone, F. T.; Cantatore, G.; Carmona, J. M.; Caspi, S.; Cetin, S. A.; Christensen, F. E.; Dael, A.; Dafni, T.; Davenport, M.; Derbin, A. V. (2013-02-13). "IAXO - The International Axion Observatory". arXiv:1302.3273 [physics.ins-det].

[1] Vogel, J. K.; Avignone, F. T.; Cantatore, G.; Carmona, J. M.; Caspi, S.; Cetin, S. A.; Christensen, F. E.; Dael, A.; Dafni, T.; Davenport, M.; Derbin, A. V. (2013-02-13). "IAXO - The International Axion Observatory". arXiv:1302.3273 [physics.ins-det].

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