Probing fundamental physics with compact objects
by
48/2-224 - Madrone
SLAC
In parallel with the extensively explored energy frontier, which seeks to push particle accelerators to higher energies, a complementary paradigm for probing fundamental physics has gained increasing prominence over the past decades. The so-called intensity frontier aims to uncover physics beyond the Standard Model by increasing the scattering rate of particles involved in a given process. Astrophysical environments provide natural laboratories for this approach. In particular, the extreme temperatures and densities found in stars and compact objects can dramatically enhance novel particle production rates, making them powerful probes of weakly-interacting beyond-standard-model candidates. In this talk I will discuss two paradigmatic examples of how this kind of searches can be conducted. Core-collapse supernovae have emerged as some of the most promising environments for investigating the phenomenology of axions and other light pseudoscalars, offering unique opportunities to search for these elusive particles through both their impact on supernova dynamics and multimessenger signals. At the same time, cold isolated neutron stars constitute exceptional laboratories for testing other light bosons predicted in Standard Model extensions. In particular, the study of their long-term evolution can provide unprecedented sensitivity to novel dark-sectors and fifth forces acting over length scales that remain inaccessible to terrestrial experiments.