S22A0049

We propose SCExAO fast-PDI imaging of a protoplanetary disk (PPD) to search for axion dark matter (ADM). Axion is predicted by particle physics and has recently received great attention as a dark matter candidate which can resolve the core-cusp problem in cosmology. Axion weakly interacts with photon and particularly rotates its linear polarization vector. We can search for a signature of ADM by seeking small deviation and its temporal oscillation in polarization angles from intrinsic circular pattern of polarization vectors of PPDs in the near-infrared wavelengths. We have proposed this idea and put the best bound on ADM with polarimetric data of AB Aur previously observed in 2009 by Subaru/HiCIAO (which employs slow-PDI, i.e., the detector read-out speed of H2RG is 1.4 second). Thanks to the new sophisticated fast-PDI imaging mode on SCExAO (which employs a very high frame rate C-RED ONE camera with >∼1 kHz, and is available for the open use from S21B), we can achieve over one order of magnitude more stringent bound on ADM, which may not be easily overcome by observations of other astronomical sources. If we detect the signature by PPD observation of one or more years, this will be a major discovery, and have a strong impact on cosmology and particle physics.

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