Professor Joseph Conlon

Abstract:

We study a family of interacting bosonic representations of the N=2 superconformal algebra. These models can be tensored with a conjugate theory to give the free theory. We explain how to use free fields to study interacting fields and their dimensions, and how we may identify different free fields as representing the same interacting field. We show how a lattice of identifying fields may be built up and how every free field may be reduced to a standard form, thus permitting the resolution of the spectrum. We explain how to build the extended algebra and show that there are a finite number of primary fields for this algebra for any of the models. We illustrate this by studying an example.

Abstract:

Galaxy clusters represent excellent laboratories to search for Axion-Like Particles (ALPs). They contain magnetic fields which can induce quasi-sinusoidal oscillations in the X-ray spectra of AGNs situated in or behind them. Due to its excellent energy resolution, the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument onboard the Athena X-ray Observatory will be far more sensitive to ALP-induced modulations than current detectors. As a first analysis of the sensitivity of Athena to the ALP-photon coupling $g_{a \gamma \gamma}$, we simulate observations of the Seyfert galaxy NGC1275 in the Perseus cluster using the SIXTE simulation software. We estimate that for a 200ks exposure, a non-observation of spectral modulations will constrain ${g_{a\gamma\gamma}\lesssim1.5\times10^{-13}\rm{GeV}^{-1}}$ for $m_a \lesssim 10^{-12} \rm{eV}$, representing an order of magnitude improvement over constraints derived using the current generation of satellites.