Chameleon search in Cast experiment at CERN

Abstract

Chameleons are hypothetical particles that are proposed as a scalar field to ac count for the accelerated expansion of the universe, the so-called ‘dark energy problem’. They are proposed to be produced in the high magnetic field regions inside the Sun and they propagate through or reflect from a medium with the interaction strength depending on the ambient density. The models which characterize the interaction of the chameleons provide two interaction channels: direct coupling to matter dependent on the density and coupling to electromagnetic field by Primakoff effect. CAST Exper iment probes the coupling of chameleons with matter with opto-mechanical KWISP detector which is based on Fabry-Perot and Michelson interferometers. In this thesis, starting with an overview of the experimental search efforts of the CAST experiment, theoretical background of the dark energy and the chameleon mechanism will be provided. Then, the detection mechanism based on KWISP detector will be discussed and the versions of the detectors will be introduced. The analysis of the data which were taken on December 2016 will be explained in details and the results will be shown. In the end, results and plans for further improvement of the detector will be discussed.