The experimental hall "Shielded Experimental Hall" (SHELL) of the Department of Physics houses the experiments BRASS (Broadband Radiometric Axion Searches) and MADMAX (Magnetized Disc and Mirror Axion Experiment) of the Cluster of Excellence "Quantum Universe" as well as SALOME, an accelerator developed exclusively for the training of students.
The three-metre-thick reinforced concrete walls of the former cyclotron bunker block almost all external electromagnetic radiation and therefore offer particularly good conditions for the search for dark matter, as this invisible substance that holds galaxies together has not yet been found. BRASS and MADMAX want to detect so-called axions as promising candidates for dark matter. In a magnetic field, an axion can behave like a particle of light and generate its own electric field. If this field could be detected, it would be proof of the existence of the axion and thus of dark matter.
Who uses the building?
- University of Hamburg