Can large scintillators be used for solar-axion searches to test the cosmological axion–photon oscillation proposal?

Abstract

Solar-axion interaction rates in NaI, CsI and Xe scintillators via the axio-electric effect were calculated. A table is presented with photo-electric and axio-electric cross sections, solar-axion fluxes, and the interaction rates from 2.0 to 10.0 keV. The results imply that annual-modulation data of large NaI and CsI arrays, and large Xe scintillation detectors, might be made sensitive enough to probe coupling to photons at levels required to explain axion–photon oscillation phenomena proposed to explain the survival of high-energy photons traveling cosmological distances. The DAMA/LIBRA data are used to demonstrate the power of the model-independent annual modulation due to the seasonal variation in the earth-sun distance.