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Hunting Axion Dark Matter with Protoplanetary Disk Polarimetry

Research Project

Project/Area Number 21K18637
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Medium-sized Section 16:Astronomy and related fields
Research InstitutionTohoku University

Principal Investigator

Toma Kenji  東北大学, 学際科学フロンティア研究所, 教授 (70729011)

Project Period (FY) 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2023)
Budget Amount *help
¥6,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Keywords暗黒物質 / アクシオン / 原始惑星系円盤 / 偏光 / 赤外線 / 近赤外線
Outline of Research at the Start

現代天文学は、暗黒物質と暗黒エネルギーの存在を前提として成立している。これらの正体を明らかにしない限り、我々は宇宙を理解したとは決して言えない。近年、最も活発に議論されている暗黒物質候補がアクシオンである。アクシオンは光にわずかに作用し、その振動方向を回転させる性質を持つ。原始惑星系円盤の光は普遍的に同心円状の振動方向を持つが、アクシオンによって同心円からわずかにずれて観測される。このずれを検出できればアクシオン暗黒物質の証拠となる。原始惑星系円盤の観測はその分野の急速な進展に伴い、良質なデータが蓄積されつつある。我々独自のこの新奇な手法を適用し、アクシオン暗黒物質の存在の兆候を捕らえる。

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Protoplanetary disks are ideal for hunting the effects of dark matter candidate axions on polarization, since they show the simplest polarization structure among celestial objects and the observational techniques for them have been developed over the years. We have planned and carried out polarimetric observations of protoplanetary disks using Subaru SCExAO fast-PD+FLC, a high precision polarimetric instrument, which was recently upgraded. We developed an image selection code to extract images that can be used for polarimetric analysis from the more than one million images obtained by this instrument. We also developed a fast-PDI+FLC's polarimetric analysis pipeline, and succeeded in obtaining a polarimetric image of protoplanetary disk SAO206462.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

暗黒物質は、宇宙の進化において不可欠と考えられているのにもかかわらず、その正体は全く不明である。その有力候補であるアクシオンの兆候を捕えるため、原始惑星系円盤の偏光を使った独自の方法を実行する道筋を示すことができた。最高精度の偏光観測装置Subaru fast-PDI+FLCの解析パイプラインを世界に先駆けて開発することに成功した。

Report

(4 results)
  • 2023 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2022 Research-status Report
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (4 results)

All 2023 2022 2021 Other

All Int'l Joint Research (1 results) Presentation (3 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results,  Invited: 2 results)

  • [Int'l Joint Research] NASA Goddard/Caltech/University of Hawaii(米国)

    • Related Report
      2023 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] 複屈折による暗黒物質アクシオン探査2023

    • Author(s)
      藤田智弘
    • Organizer
      日本物理学会第78回年次大会
    • Related Report
      2023 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Polarimetric observation to hunt axion dark matter2022

    • Author(s)
      藤田智弘
    • Organizer
      Astrophysical Polarimetry in the Time-Domain Era
    • Related Report
      2022 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
  • [Presentation] Polarization of light scattered by large dust aggregates: Implications for optical and near-infrared scattered light observations of protoplanetary disks2021

    • Author(s)
      田崎亮
    • Organizer
      NOVA2 Network meeting
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

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Published: 2021-07-13   Modified: 2025-01-30  

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