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DMRadio-Core: A new approach for GUT-scale axion searches

V. Ankel ^1,2, C. Bartram ^3,2, J. Begin ⁴, C. Bell ^1,2, S. Chaudhuri ⁴, H.-M. Cho ^3,2, J. Corbin ^1,2, W. Craddock ³, S. Cuadra ⁵ et al.

A. Droster ^1,2,3, J. Echevers ⁶, E. Engelhardt ⁷, J. T. Fry ⁵, K. D. Irwin ^1,2,3, A. Keller ^1,2, R. Kolevatov ⁴, A. Kunder ^1,2, N. Kurita ³, N. Otto ⁴, E. Pariset ⁵, S. Puranam ⁸, P. Quassolo ^9,10, N. M. Rapidis ^1,2,*, C. P. Salemi ^8,7, M. Simanovskaia ^1,2, J. Singh ^1,2, P. Stark ^1,3,2, E. C. van Assendelft ^1,2, K. van Bibber ^6,7, K. J. Vetter ⁵, K. Wells ¹, J. Wiedemann ⁴, L. Winslow ⁵, D. Wright ^1,2, A. K. Yi ^3,2, and B. F. Zemenu ^1,3,2

¹Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
²Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
³SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
⁴Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
⁵Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
⁶Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁷Physics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁸Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
⁹Applied Science and Technology, College of Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
¹⁰Accelerator Technology and Applied Physics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

^*Contact author: rapidis@stanford.edu

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 092004 – Published 5 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rwv6-8hr3

Abstract

Searches for QCD axions with masses in the $n eV / c^{2}$ mass range are strongly motivated by new physics at the grand unified theory (GUT) scale and by well-motivated preinflationary axion symmetry breaking scales. This parameter space is challenging to probe due to the small axion-photon couplings, which typically require large, high-field magnets with substantial stored energy. In this paper, we propose a new experimental geometry based on a narrow-bore, segmented solenoid that optimizes the collection of the axion-induced signal using LC resonators outside the high-field region of the magnet bore. This alternative optimization significantly reduces the required stored magnetic energy while preserving sensitivity, thus enabling a near-term experiment in the 30–200 MHz ( $120 - 830 n eV / c^{2}$ ) range, with a cost-effective, staged scaling to a GUT-scale experiment in the 100 kHz–30 MHz ( $0.4 - 120 n eV / c^{2}$ ) range.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 092004– Published 5 November, 2026

Vol. 114, Iss. 9 — 1 November 2026

Received 13 July 2026
Accepted 7 October 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rwv6-8hr3

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

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DMRadio-Core: A new approach for GUT-scale axion searches

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