Helioscopes, such as the proposed International Axion Observatory (IAXO), have significant discovery potential for axions and axion-like particles. In this note, we argue that beyond discovery they can resolve details of the model. In particular, in the region suggested by stellar cooling anomalies, there is a good chance to measure the mass of the particle and separately its couplings to electrons and photons. This can give crucial information on the nature of the underlying model. To achieve this, energy resolved detectors and a setup with low energy threshold are needed.

If axions or axion-like particles exist and are detected, they will not only extend the standard model of particle physics but will also open a new way to probe their sources. Axion helioscopes aim to detect axions which are produced in the core of the sun. Their spectrum contains information about the solar interior and could in principle help to solve the conflict between high and low metallicity solar models. Using the planned International Axion Observatory (IAXO) as an example, we show that helioscopes could measure the strength of characteristic emission peaks caused by the presence of heavier elements with good precision. In order to determine unambiguously the elemental abundances from this information, an improved modelling of the states of atoms inside the solar plasma is required. 4 Usually, the term axion-like particles refers particles similar to the QCD axion in that they are light (pseudo-)scalars and have very weak couplings to Standard Model particles, but they do not solve the strong CP problem. For our purposes only the two-photon and electron couplings are relevant. Their mass can be different from that of the QCD axion and can therefore be treated as a free parameter.

The low-energy electronic recoil spectrum in XENON1T provides an intriguing hint for potential new physics. At the same time, observations of horizontal branch stars favor the existence of a small amount of extra cooling compared to the one expected from the Standard Model particle content. In this note, we argue that a hidden photon with a mass of ∼ 2.5 keV and a kinetic mixing of ∼ 10−15 allows for a good fit to both of these excesses. In this scenario, the signal detected in XENON1T is due to the absorption of hidden photon dark matter particles, whereas the anomalous cooling of horizontal branch stars arises from resonant production of hidden photons in the stellar interior.

We review the calculation of the solar axion flux from axion-photon and axionelectron interactions and discuss the size of various effects neglected in current calculations. For the Primakoff flux we then explicitly include the partial degeneracy of electrons. We survey the available solar models and opacity codes and develop a publicly available C++/Python code to quantify the associated systematic differences and statistical uncertainties. The number of axions emitted in helioseismological solar models is systematically larger by about 5% compared to photospheric models, while the overall statistical uncertainties in solar models are typically at the percent level in both helioseismological and photospheric models. However, for specific energies, the statistical fluctuations can reach up to about 5% as well. Taking these uncertainties into account, we investigate the ability of the upcoming helioscope IAXO to discriminate KSVZ axion models. Such a discrimination is possible for a number of models, and a discovery of KSVZ axions with high E/N ratios could potentially help to solve the solar abundance problem. We discuss limitations of the axion emission calculations and identify potential improvements, which would help to determine axion model parameters more accurately.

A finite axion–nucleon coupling, nearly unavoidable for QCD axions, leads to the production of axions via the thermal excitation and subsequent de-excitation of $$^{57}$$ 57 Fe isotopes in the sun. We revise the solar bound on this flux adopting the up to date emission rate, and investigate the sensitivity of the proposed International Axion Observatory IAXO and its intermediate stage BabyIAXO to detect these axions. We compare different realistic experimental options and discuss the model dependence of the signal. Already BabyIAXO has sensitivity far beyond previous solar axion searches via the nucleon coupling and IAXO can improve on this by more than an order of magnitude.