Physicists Detect 65 Axion Signals in Earth Data as 342 Dark Photon Candidates Emerge
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Sep 12
Physicists Detect 65 Axion Signals in Earth Data as 342 Dark Photon Candidates Emerge
2 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Sep 12
Summary
Using British Geological Survey magnetic-field records from 2012 to 2022, researchers found 65 axion candidates, narrowing that set to 25 after stricter statistical filtering.
The search treats Earth and the ionosphere as a natural resonator: if axion-like dark matter passes through, it should generate electromagnetic waves at frequencies tied to the particles' mass.
A follow-up analysis of the same data also produced up to 342 dark-photon candidates, cut to 31 under tighter signal-to-noise rules, but the current method cannot distinguish them from axion signals.
Location should provide that test: axion signals would vary with Earth's magnetic-field strength—weakening near the poles and peaking around Southeast Asia—while dark-photon signals should look similar worldwide.
That global check is not yet possible because the study used data from a single UK observatory, leaving the candidates unverified and future multi-site experiments crucial.