Plastic Dark Matter

The infrared transmittance spectrum of the common plastic material polystyrene at room temperature and ambient pressure reveals a forest of puzzling resonances in the near-infrared with no known identification in terms of the infrared-active vibration modes of this electrically insulating, optically transparent organic polymer. Instead, the resonances are due to the creation of dark matter in the form of the long-sought fundamental particle known as the axion. Analysis of the published near-infrared transmittance spectrum of polystyrene from the clear plastic jewel boxes used to store compact discs determines the rest-mass energy of the axion to 44 parts per million precision.