Abstract: We present results of the Relic Axion Dark-Matter Exploratory Setup (RADES), a detector which is part of the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), searching for axion dark matter in the 34.67 μeV mass range. A radio frequency cavity consisting of 5 sub-cavities coupled by inductive irises took physics data inside the CAST dipole magnet for the first time using this filter-like haloscope geometry. An exclusion limit with a 95% credibility level on the axion-photon coupling constant of g(a gamma) greater than or similar to 4 x 10(-13) GeV-1 over a mass range of 34.6738 μeV < m(a)< 34.6771 μeV is set. This constitutes a significant improvement over the current strongest limit set by CAST at this mass and is at the same time one of the most sensitive direct searches for an axion dark matter candidate above the mass of 25 μeV. The results also demonstrate the feasibility of exploring a wider mass range around the value probed by CAST-RADES in this work using similar coherent resonant cavities.

Abstract: A class of hybrid compact star equations of state is investigated that joins by a Maxwell construction a low-density phase of hadronic matter, modeled by a relativistic mean-field approach with excluded nucleon volume, with a high-density phase of color superconducting two-flavor quark matter, described within a nonlocal covariant chiral quark model. It is found that the occurrence of a stable branch of hybrid compact stars requires a nonvanishing vector meson coupling in the quark model that exceeds a minimal value which depends on the presence of a diquark condensate. It is shown that these hybrid stars do not form a third family disconnected from the second family of ordinary neutron stars unless additional (de) confining effects are introduced with a density-dependent bag pressure. A suitably chosen density dependence of the vector meson coupling assures that at the same time the 2M(circle dot) maximum mass constraint is fulfilled on the hybrid star branch. A twofold interpolation method is realized which implements both the density dependence of a confining bag pressure at the onset of the hadron-to-quark matter transition and the stiffening of quark matter at higher densities by a density-dependent vector meson coupling. For three parametrizations of this class of hybrid equation of state the properties of corresponding compact star sequences are presented, including mass twins of neutron and hybrid stars at 2.00, 1.39 and 1.20 M-circle dot, respectively, and the hybrid compact star (third) families. The sensitivity of the hybrid equation of state and the corresponding compact star sequences to variations of the interpolation parameters at the 10% level is investigated and it is found that the feature of third family solutions for compact stars is robust against such a variation. This advanced description of hybrid star matter allows us to interpret GW170817 as a merger not only of two neutron stars but also of a neutron star with a hybrid star or of two hybrid stars.

Abstract: The Bayesian approach for feedforward neural networks has been applied to the extraction of the nucleon axial form factor from the neutrino-deuteron-scattering data measured by the Argonne National Laboratory bubble-chamber experiment. This framework allows to perform a model-independent determination of the axial form factor from data. When the low 0.05 < Q(2) < 0.10-GeV2 data are included in the analysis, the resulting axial radius disagrees with available determinations. Furthermore, a large sensitivity to the corrections from the deuteron structure is obtained. In turn, when the low-Q(2) region is not taken into account with or without deuteron corrections, no significant deviations from previous determinations have been observed. A more accurate determination of the nucleon axial form factor requires new precise measurements of neutrino-induced quasielastic scattering on hydrogen and deuterium.