Proceedings of the 14th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs

After 10 years the Patras Workshop series on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs was back to DESY in Hamburg
for its 14th incarnation. 151 participants enjoyed presentations and lively discussions on cosmology,
astrophysics, particle physics theory and, last but no least, new experimental results as well as
progress and plans towards future detectors. A decade ago the workshop had 64 attendees.
The workshop organization followed closely previous good experiences with wildly mixed topics in
each session “forcing” all communities to attend, but added also new elements like combined oral and
poster presentations. A special highlight was the science slam to present facets of our physics fields
in an entertaining manner to other scientists at DESY and the public. The audience voted for Ciaran
O’Hare (Universidad de Zaragoza) as the winner of this little competition with his “Safari in the Milky
Way”.
No doubt, WISPs have caught up on WIMPs and moved out from some niches. WISP physics is becoming
main-stream science and join in with WIMP activities also in fostering a lively community with
fascinating theoretical and instrumental developments in spite of lacking any significant discovery.
Hopes are thigh that this might change soon. WIMP detectors are approaching the neutrino floor and
ADMX has demonstrated its sensitivity to detect dark matter axions as predicted by benchmark models,
just to name two examples. Perhaps “Patras 2019” to be held at Freiburg, Germany, in the first week of
June, will see the first WIMP and/or WISP discovery!
As the chairperson of the organizing committee I thank my committee colleagues for the very constructive
collaboration and the fun working with you!
In the name of the organizing committee I thank all attendees to “Patras” 2018” very much! You made
it a success!
Axel Lindner