Theory for the direct detection of solar axions by coherent Primakoff conversion in germanium detectors

It is assumed that axion-like Nambu Goldstone bosons exist and are created in the sun by Primakoff conversion of photons in the Coulomb fields of nuclei. Detection rates are calculated in germanium detectors due to the coherent conversion of axions to photons in the lattice when the incident angle fulfills the Bragg condition for a given crystalline plane. The rates are correlated with the relative positions of the sun and detector yielding a definite recognizable sub-diurnal temporal pattern. A major experiment is proposed based on a large detector array. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.