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Extended Haloscope Search and Exclusion of a Candidate Signal near 1.036 GHz

Saebyeok Ahn1,2, Boris I. Ivanov1,2, Ohjoon Kwon1,2, HeeSu Byun2, Arjan F. van Loo3,4, SeongTae Park2, JinMyeong Kim5,2, Junu Jeong2,*, Soohyung Lee2,† et al.

Jinsu Kim1,2, Çağlar Kutlu2,‡, Andrew K. Yi5,2,§, Yasunobu Nakamura3,4, Seonjeong Oh1,2, Danho Ahn2,∥, SungJae Bae5,2,¶, Hyoungsoon Choi5, Jihoon Choi2,**, Yonuk Chong6, Woohyun Chung2, Violeta Gkika2, Jihn E. Kim7, Younggeun Kim2,††, Byeong Rok Ko2,‡‡, Lino Miceli2, Doyu Lee2,§§, Jiwon Lee1,5,2, Ki Woong Lee2, MyeongJae Lee2,∥∥, Andrei Matlashov2,¶¶, Pallavi Parashar1,5,2, Taehyeon Seong1,2, Yun Chang Shin2, Sergey V. Uchaikin1,2, Yannis K. Semertzidis2,5, and SungWoo Youn1,2,***

  • *Present address: Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
  • †Present address: Center for Accelerator Research, Korea University, Sejong 30019, Republic of Korea.
  • ‡Present address: Zurich Instruments, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zürich, Switzerland.
  • §Present address: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
  • ∥Present address: INFN-Sezione di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
  • Present address: RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing (RQC), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
  • **Present address: Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea.
  • ††Present address: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55122 Mainz, Germany; GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
  • ‡‡Present address: Department of Accelerator Science, Korea University Sejong Campus, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong, 30019, Republic of Korea.
  • §§Present address: Samsung Electronics, Gyeonggi-do 16677, Republic of Korea.
  • ∥∥Present address: Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
  • ¶¶Deceased.
  • ***Contact author: swyoun@ibs.re.kr
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 021803 – Published 10 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2sn2-h97m

Abstract

We report a follow-up axion haloscope search near 1.036 GHz that completes and extends our previous work [Ahn et al. Phys. Rev. X 14, 031023 (2024)], in which a portion of the HEMT-based data could not be analyzed due to unrecorded experimental information. While recovering this dataset, we identified an excess near 1.036 GHz that satisfied our candidate-selection criteria, motivating dedicated validation studies, including independent cross-checks and reexamination with the original apparatus. The excess did not persist under these investigations and was not confirmed as an axion dark-matter signal. We subsequently extended the search over a 20-MHz band surrounding the candidate using a quantum-noise-limited amplifier, achieving sensitivity close to the Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky benchmark. In the absence of a confirmed signal, we set improved 90% confidence-level upper limits on the axion-photon coupling over the frequency range 1.026–1.045 GHz. This Letter highlights the importance of robust candidate-validation strategies as haloscope searches approach discovery-level sensitivity.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 021803– Published 10 July, 2026
  • Received 9 February 2026
  • Revised 7 April 2026
  • Accepted 10 June 2026
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