RESUMO
The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) has extended its search for solar axions by using (3)He as a buffer gas. At T=1.8 K this allows for larger pressure settings and hence sensitivity to higher axion masses than our previous measurements with (4)He. With about 1 h of data taking at each of 252 different pressure settings we have scanned the axion mass range 0.39 eVâ²m(a)â²0.64 eV. From the absence of excess x rays when the magnet was pointing to the Sun we set a typical upper limit on the axion-photon coupling of g(aγ)â²2.3×10(-10) GeV(-1) at 95% C.L., the exact value depending on the pressure setting. Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov axions are excluded at the upper end of our mass range, the first time ever for any solar axion search. In the future we will extend our search to m(a)â²1.15 eV, comfortably overlapping with cosmological hot dark matter bounds.
RESUMO
Polarised targets as used in high energy physics experiments may be of considerable interest in biological structure research using polarized neutrons. So far, this promising method has been facing difficulties in getting reasonable polarization of the target nuclei. We report on a polarized "frozen spin" target which has been prepared from an enzyme dissolved in a mixture of heavy water and deuterated propanediol doped with a completely deuterated paramagnetic radical. Clusters of 700 protons defined by the structure of lysozyme embedded in a fully deuterated matrix were polarized to 75% within an hour by 4 mm microwave irradiation in a magnetic field of 2.5 tesla at a temperature of 0.3 K. The polarisation behaviour of biological targets can be compared to the best frozen spin target materials in high energy physics research.
