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The case for light pseudo-scalar particles, such as the axion, will
be presented and current experimental effort for their detection will
be reviewed. It will be argued that some astronomical "experiments"
may be orders of magnitude more sensitive in detecting those
particles than current laboratory experiments. Several promising
observational routes will be outlined, which make use of
photon-particle oscillations in compact magnetized objects, such as
magnetars. A recently discovered beam-splitting effect will also be
presented, and its observational signatures, with implications for
the detection of light pseudo-scalar particles, will be discussed.
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