Release Notes - Ferroaxionic Effect Repository v1.0

Overview

This release accompanies the publication of "Detecting the QCD axion via the ferroaxionic force with piezoelectric materials" by Asimina Arvanitaki, Jonathan Engel, Andrew A. Geraci, Alexander Hepburn, Amalia Madden, and Ken Van Tilburg.

Paper: [arXiv:2411.10516](https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10516)
Journal: Physical Review Letters (Accepted)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6xw1-1715
Repository: https://github.com/kenvantilburg/ferroaxionic-effect

What's New

Initial Release (v1.0)

This is the first public release of the computational framework supporting the ferroaxionic effect research. The repository provides complete reproducibility for all figures and calculations presented in the PRL paper.

Features

Core Functionality

• Complete Reproducibility: All figures from the paper can be regenerated using the provided Jupyter notebooks
• Natural Units Framework: Code operates in natural units (ℏ = c = k_B = 1) with a custom units module (my_units.py)
• Data Accessibility: Tabulated data underlying all paper figures included in structured format

Repository Structure

ferroaxionic-effect/
├── code/          # Jupyter notebooks for figure generation
├── data/          # Tabulated numerical results
├── figs/          # Generated figures from the paper
├── LICENSE        # MIT License
└── README.md      # Documentation

Scientific Contributions

This code repository supports the following key scientific findings:

1. Novel Detection Method: Demonstrates how piezoelectric materials can source virtual QCD axions to generate a new axion-mediated force

2. Enhanced Coupling: Shows effective in-medium scalar coupling up to 7 orders of magnitude larger than vacuum coupling

3. Experimental Feasibility: Proposes nuclear spin precession detection scheme with resonant enhancement

4. Mass Range Coverage: Targets previously unexplored QCD axion mass range: 10⁻⁵ eV to 10⁻² eV

Technical Details

Physics Framework

• Symmetry Breaking: Combines spontaneous parity violation (piezoelectric crystal) with time-reversal violation (aligned spins)
• Detection Mechanism: Resonantly enhanced signal from modulated source-sample distance at spin precession frequency
• Experimental Design: Modified ARIADNE-style experimental setup

Computational Implementation

• Language: Python (Jupyter Notebook 99.3%, Python 0.7%)
• Dependencies: Standard scientific Python stack
• Unit System: Natural units with custom conversion utilities

Installation & Usage

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/kenvantilburg/ferroaxionic-effect.git
cd ferroaxionic-effect

# Navigate to code directory
cd code

# Open Jupyter notebooks to reproduce figures
jupyter notebook

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• Jupyter Notebook
• Standard scientific libraries (NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib)

Data

The data/ folder contains:

• Tabulated numerical results for all paper figures
• Preprocessed data from calculations
• Ready-to-plot datasets

All data files are referenced directly in the corresponding Jupyter notebooks.

Citation

If you use this code or data in your research, please cite:

@article{6xw1-1715,
  title = {Detecting the QCD axion via the ferroaxionic force with piezoelectric materials},
  author = {Arvanitaki, Asimina and Engel, Jonathan and Geraci, Andrew A. and 
            Hepburn, Alexander and Madden, Amalia and Tilburg, Ken Van},
  journal = {Phys. Rev. Lett.},
  year = {2026},
  month = {Jan},
  publisher = {American Physical Society},
  doi = {10.1103/6xw1-1715},
  url = {https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/6xw1-1715}
}

Authors & Contact

• Asimina Arvanitaki - aarvanitaki@perimeterinstitute.ca (Perimeter Institute)
• Jonathan Engel - University of North Carolina
• Andrew A. Geraci - Northwestern University
• Alexander Hepburn - Northwestern University
• Amalia Madden - amadden@kitp.ucsb.edu (KITP, UC Santa Barbara)
• Ken Van Tilburg - kenvt@nyu.edu (New York University)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the [LICENSE](https://claude.ai/chat/LICENSE) file for details.

Contributing

This is a research code repository supporting a published paper. For questions, suggestions, or issues:

1. Open an issue on GitHub
2. Contact the corresponding authors directly
3. Refer to the paper for detailed methodology

Repository Statistics

• Release Date: February 16, 2026
• Total Commits: 38
• Contributors: 2 (Amalia Madden, Ken Van Tilburg)
• License: MIT
• Language: Jupyter Notebook (99.3%), Python (0.7%)

Version History

v1.0 (February 16, 2026)

• Initial public release
• Complete code for all paper figures
• Full dataset publication
• Documentation and README
• MIT License applied

Future Development

This repository represents the computational framework as published. Future updates may include:

• Extended parameter studies
• Additional material calculations
• Sensitivity projections for alternative experimental configurations
• Community contributions and extensions

Related Resources

• Paper (arXiv): https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10516
• Published Version: https://doi.org/10.1103/6xw1-1715
• Repository: https://github.com/kenvantilburg/ferroaxionic-effect

This release represents a significant step forward in axion dark matter detection methodology, opening a new mass range for experimental exploration through the novel ferroaxionic force mechanism.