Here we generally prove that the axion as a coherently oscillating scalar field acts as a cold dark matter in nearly all cosmologically relevant scales. The proof is made in the linear perturbation order. Compared with our previous proof based on solutions, here we compare the equations in the axion with the ones in the cold dark matter, thus expanding the valid range of the proof. Deviation from purely pressureless medium appears in very small scale where axion reveals a peculiar equation of state. Our analysis is made in the presence of the cosmological constant, and our conclusions are valid in the presence of other fluid and field components.
We investigate aspects of axion as a coherently oscillating massive classical scalar field by analyzing third order perturbations in Einstein's gravity in the axion-comoving gauge. The axion fluid has its characteristic pressure term leading to an axion Jeans scale which is cosmologically negligible for a canonical axion mass. Our classically derived axion pressure term in Einstein's gravity is identical to the one derived in the non-relativistic quantum mechanical context in the literature. We show that except for the axion pressure term, the axion fluid equations are exactly the same as the …
We discuss some striking properties of photons propagating in a cold axion condensate oscillating coherently in time with a frequency $1/m_a$. Three effects are discussed in this contribution: (a) due to the time dependence of the background, photons moving in the cold axion background have no definite energies and some momenta are not accessible to them. (b) we investigate the combined influence of a magnetic field and the cold axion background and propose a possible interferometric experiment to detect the latter. (c) if the axion condensate has a space dependence, the photon refraction inde…
We prove that the axion as a coherently oscillating scalar field acts as a cold dark matter (CDM) to the second-order perturbations in all cosmological scales including the super-horizon scale. The proof is made in the axion-comoving gauge. For a canonical mass, the axion pressure term causes deviation from the CDM only on scales smaller than the Solar System size. Beyond such a small scale the equations of the axion fluid are the same as the ones of the CDM based on the CDM-comoving gauge which are exactly identical to the Newtonian equations to the second order. We also show that the axion f…
We introduce an axion-inflation model embedded in the Left-Right symmetric extension of the SM in which $W_R$ is coupled to the axion. This model merges three milestones of modern cosmology, i.e., inflation, cold dark matter, and baryon asymmetry. Thus, it can naturally explain the observed coincidences among cosmological parameters, i.e., $η_{B}\approx P_ζ$ and $Ω_{DM} \simeq 5~Ω_{B}$. The source of asymmetry is spontaneous CP violation in the physics of inflation, and the lightest right-handed neutrino is the cold dark matter candidate with mass $m_{N_1}\sim 1~GeV$. The introduced mechanism …
A cold relic axion condensate resulting from vacuum misalignment in the early universe oscillates with a frequency m, where m is the axion mass. We determine the properties of photons propagating in a simplified version of such a background where the sinusoidal variation is replaced by a square wave profile. We prove that previous results that indicated that charged particles moving fast in such a background radiate, originally derived assuming that all momenta involved were much larger than m, hold for long wavelengths too. We also analyze in detail how the introduction of a magnetic field ch…
The subjects of this thesis are the invisible axion and the more general family of axion-like particles. The invisible axion is a hypothetical elementary particle and a cold dark matter candidate. I present an improved computation of the constraints on the parameter space of the cold dark matter axion in the standard cosmology, that includes the contributions from anharmonicities in the axion potential and from the decay of axionic strings. In this scenario, I update the value of the mass of the cold dark matter axion, finding the value $(67\pm17){\rm μeV}$, approximately one order of magnitud…
We examine the effects of photon-axion mixing on the CMB. We show that if there are very underdense regions between us and the last scattering surface which contain coherent magnetic fields (whose strength can be orders of magnitude weaker than the current bounds), then photon-axion mixing can induce observable deviations in the CMB spectrum. Specifically, we show that the mixing can give rise to non-thermal spots on the CMB sky. As an example we consider the well known CMB cold spot, which according to the Planck data has a weak distortion from a black body spectrum, that can be fit by our mo…
The presence of a hot dark matter component has been hinted at 3 sigma by a combination of the results from different cosmological observations. We examine a possibility that pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons account for both hot and cold dark matter components. We show that the QCD axions can do the job for the axion decay constant f_a < O(10^10) GeV, if they are produced by the saxion decay and the domain wall annihilation. We also investigate the cases of thermal QCD axions, pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons coupled to the standard model sector through the Higgs portal, and axions produced by modul…
Cold dark matter axions form a Bose-Einstein condensate if the axions thermalize. Recently, it was found that they do thermalize when the photon temperature reaches T ~ 100 eV(f/10^12GeV)^1/2 and that they continue to do so thereafter. We discuss the differences between axion BEC and CDM in the linear regime and the non-linear regime of evolution of density perturbations. We find that axion BEC provides a mechanism for the production of net overall rotation in dark matter halos, and for the alignment of cosmic microwave anisotropy multi-poles.
The axion is a well-motivated candidate for the inflaton, as the radiative corrections that spoil many single-field models are avoided by virtue of its shift symmetry. However, axions generically couple to gauge sectors. As the axion slow-rolls during inflation, this coupling can cause the production of a non-diluting thermal bath, a situation known as "warm inflation." This thermal bath can dramatically alter inflationary dynamics and observable predictions. In this paper, we demonstrate that a thermal bath can form for a wide variety of initial conditions. Furthermore, we find that axion inf…
The electroweak axion is identified with the fuzzy dark matter of a mass $m\simeq 10^{-20}$--$10^{-19}\,{\rm eV}$. The model predicts two components of dark matter, one is ultralight and the other is WIMP-like. The Chern-Simons-type interaction between the fuzzy dark matter and photon and the $B+L$ breaking proton decays are predicted.
We study the parameter space of cold dark matter axions in two cosmological scenarios with non-standard thermal histories before Big Bang nucleosynthesis: the Low Temperature Reheating (LTR) cosmology and the kination cosmology. If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaks during inflation, we find more allowed parameter space in the LTR cosmology than in the standard cosmology and less in the kination cosmology. On the contrary, if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaks after inflation, the Peccei-Quinn scale is orders of magnitude higher than standard in the LTR cosmology and lower in the kination cosmolog…
We study the conditions for the adiabatic resonant conversion of the cold dark matter (CDM) axions into photons in existence of the astrophysically sourced strong magnetic fields such as those in the neutron star magnetosphere. We demonstrate the possibility that the forthcoming radio telescopes such as the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) can probe those photon signals from the CDM axions.
By eschewing finetuning from the electroweak and QCD sectors of supersymmetry (natural supersymmetry or SUSY), and by invoking the Kim-Nilles solution to the SUSY mu problem, one is lead to models wherein the dark matter is comprised of a mixture of axions and higgsino-like WIMPs. Over a large range of Peccei-Quinn breaking scale f_a~ 10^9-10^{12} GeV, one then expects about 90-95% axion dark matter. In such a scenario, both axion and WIMP direct detection may be expected.
In this work we analyze the propagation of photons in an environment where a strong magnetic field (perpendicular to the photon momenta) coexists with an oscillating cold axion background with the characteristics expected from dark matter in the galactic halo. Qualitatively, the main effect of the combined background is to produce a three-way mixing among the two photon polarizations and the axion. It is interesting to note that in spite of the extremely weak interaction of photons with the cold axion background, its effects compete with those coming from the magnetic field in some regions of …
QCD axions are a well-motivated candidate for cold dark matter. Cold axions are produced in the early universe by vacuum realignment, axion string decay and axion domain wall decay. We show that cold axions thermalize via their gravitational self-interactions, and form a Bose-Einstein condensate. As a result, axion dark matter behaves differently from the other proposed forms of dark matter. The differences are observable.
We study for what specific values of the theoretical parameters the axion can form the totality of cold dark matter. We examine the allowed axion parameter region in the light of recent data collected by the WMAP5 mission plus baryon acoustic oscillations and supernovae \cite{komatsu}, and assume an inflationary scenario and standard cosmology. We also upgrade the treatment of anharmonicities in the axion potential, which we find important in certain cases. If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is restored after inflation, we recover the usual relation between axion mass and density, so that an axion m…
Axion as a coherently oscillating scalar field is known to behave as a cold dark matter in all cosmologically relevant scales. For conventional axion mass with 10^{-5} eV, the axion reveals a characteristic damping behavior in the evolution of density perturbations on scales smaller than the solar system size. The damping scale is inversely proportional to the square-root of the axion mass. We show that the axion mass smaller than 10^{-24} eV induces a significant damping in the baryonic density power spectrum in cosmologically relevant scales, thus deviating from the cold dark matter in the s…
Axions are a promising cold dark matter candidate. Haloscopes, which use the conversion of axions to photons in the presence of a magnetic field to detect axions, are the basis of microwave cavity searches such as the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX). To search for lighter, low frequency axions in the sub $2\times10^{-7}$ eV (50 MHz) range, a tunable lumped-element LC circuit has been proposed. For the first time, through ADMX SLIC (Superconducting Lc circuit Investigating Cold axions), a resonant LC circuit was used to probe this region of axion mass-coupling space. The detector used a sup…
We study for what specific values of the theoretical parameters the axion can form the totality of cold dark matter. We examine the allowed axion parameter region in the light of recent data collected by the WMAP5 mission plus baryon acoustic oscillations and supernovae, and assume an inflationary scenario and standard cosmology. If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is restored after inflation, we recover the usual relation between axion mass and density, so that an axion mass $m_a =67\pm2{\rm μeV}$ makes the axion 100% of the cold dark matter. If the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken during inflation, …
Axino arises in supersymmetric versions of axion models and is a natural candidate for cold or warm dark matter. Here we revisit axino dark matter produced thermally and non-thermally in light of recent developments. First we discuss the definition of axino relative to low energy axion one for several KSVZ and DFSZ models of the axion. Then we review and refine the computation of the dominant QCD production in order to avoid unphysical cross-sections and, depending on the model, to include production via SU(2) and U(1) interactions and Yukawa couplings.
We show that cold dark matter axions thermalize and form a Bose-Einstein condensate. We obtain the axion state in a homogeneous and isotropic universe, and derive the equations governing small axion perturbations. Because they form a BEC, axions differ from ordinary cold dark matter in the non-linear regime of structure formation and upon entering the horizon. Axion BEC provides a mechanism for the production of net overall rotation in dark matter halos, and for the alignment of cosmic microwave anisotropy multipoles.
We review recent developments on axion cosmology. Topics include : axion cold dark matter, axions from topological defects, axion isocurvature perturbation and its non-Gaussianity and axino/saxion cosmology in supersymmetric axion model.
String theory has been claimed to give rise to natural fuzzy dark matter candidates in the form of ultralight axions. In this paper we revisit this claim by a detailed study of how moduli stabilisation affects the masses and decay constants of different axion fields which arise in type IIB flux compactifications. We find that obtaining a considerable contribution to the observed dark matter abundance without tuning the axion initial misalignment angle is not a generic feature of 4D string models since it requires a mild violation of the $S f\lesssim M_P$ bound, where $S$ is the instanton actio…
Cold dark matter axions thermalize through gravitational self-interactions and form a Bose-Einstein condensate when the photon temperature reaches approximately 500 eV. Axion Bose-Einstein condensation provides an opportunity to distinguish axions from the other dark matter candidates on the basis of observation. The rethermalization of axions that are about to fall in a galactic potential well causes them to acquire net overall rotation, whereas ordinary cold dark matter falls in with an irrotational velocity field. The inner caustics of galactic halos are different in the two cases.
The search for axions has gained ground in recent years, with laboratory searches for cold dark matter (CDM) axions, relativistic solar axions and ultra-light axions the subject of extensive literature. In particular, the interest in axions as a CDM candidate has been motivated by its potential to account for all of the inferred value of $Ω_{DM} \sim 0.26$ in the standard $ΛCDM$ model. Indeed, the value of $Ω_{DM} \sim 0.26$ could be provided by a light axion. We investigate the possibility of complementing existing axion search experiments with radio telescope observations in an attempt to de…
The axion is arguably one of the best motivated candidates for dark matter. For a decay constant greater than about 10^9 GeV, axions are dominantly produced non-thermally in the early universe and hence are "cold", their velocity dispersion being small enough to fit to large scale structure. Moreover, such a large decay constant ensures the stability at cosmological time scales and its behaviour as a collisionless fluid at cosmological length scales. Here, we review the state of the art of axion dark matter predictions and of experimental efforts to search for axion dark matter in laboratory e…
We study the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry of the sterile right-handed neutrino sector and the gauge symmetries of the Standard Model. Due to four-fermion interactions, spontaneous breaking of these symmetries at the electroweak scale generates top-quark Dirac mass and sterile-neutrino Majorana mass. The top quark channel yields massive Higgs, $W^\pm$ and $Z^0$ bosons. The sterile neutrino channel yields the heaviest sterile neutrino Majorana mass, sterile Nambu-Goldstone axion (or majoron) and massive scalar $χ$boson. Four-fermion operators effectively induce their tiny couplings to SM particles…
The distinctive effects of fuzzy dark matter are most visible at non-linear galactic scales. We present the first simulations of mixed fuzzy and cold dark matter, obtained with an extended version of the Nyx code. Fuzzy (or ultralight, or axion-like) dark matter dynamics are governed by the comoving Schrödinger-Poisson equation. This is evolved with a pseudospectral algorithm on the root grid, and with finite differencing at up to six levels of adaptive refinement. Cold dark matter is evolved with the existing N-body implementation in Nyx. We present the first investigations of spherical colla…
Axions differ from the other cold dark matter candidates in that they form a degenerate Bose gas. It is shown that their huge quantum degeneracy and large correlation length cause cold dark matter axions to thermalize through gravitational self-interactions when the photon temperature reaches approximately 500 eV. When they thermalize, the axions form a Bose-Einstein condensate. Their thermalization occurs in a regime, herein called the `condensed regime', where the Boltzmann equation is not valid because the energy dispersion of the particles is smaller than their interaction rate. We derive …
We argue that the existence of the cold dark matter is explained by primordial black holes.We show that a significant number of primordial black holes can be formed in an axion-like curvaton model, in which the highly blue-tilted power spectrum of primordial curvature perturbations is achieved.It is found that the produced black holes with masses $\sim 10^{20} -10^{38} \mathrm{g}$ account for the present cold dark matter.We also argue the possibility of forming the primordial black holes with mass $\sim 10^5 M_{\odot}$ as seeds of the supermassive black holes.
We consider a nonminimally coupled scalar field as a potential cold dark matter candidate. These models are natural extensions of the ultralight axion models which are based on minimally coupled scalar fields. Such ultralight scalar fields are motivated by string theory and, in particular, have been studied in the context of the axiverse scenario. For a nonminimally coupled field, the scalar-field energy density behaves as radiation at early times, which yields a bound on the coupling constant, $ξ\lesssim 10$, from the primordial nucleosynthesis theory. The first-order perturbations of the non…
Models of natural supersymmetry seek to solve the little hierarchy problem by positing a spectrum of light higgsinos \lesssim 200 GeV and light top squarks \lesssim 500 GeV along with very heavy squarks and TeV-scale gluinos. Such models have low electroweak finetuning and are safe from LHC searches. However, in the context of the MSSM, they predict too low a value of m(h) and the relic density of thermally produced higgsino-like WIMPs falls well below dark matter (DM) measurements. Allowing for high scale soft SUSY breaking Higgs mass m_{H_u}> m_0 leads to natural cancellations during RG runn…
We point out that the swampland conjectures, forbidding the presence of global symmetries and (meta-)stable de Sitter vacua within quantum gravity, pick up a dynamical axion for the electroweak SU(2) gauge theory as a natural candidate for the quintessence field. The potential energy of the electroweak axion provides an attractive candidate for the dark energy. We discuss constraints from the weak gravity conjecture, from the conjecture of no global symmetry, and from observations, which can be satisfied elegantly in a supersymmetric extension of the standard model.
We investigate the axion dark matter scenario (ADM), in which axions account for all of the dark matter in the Universe, in light of the most recent cosmological data. In particular, we use the Planck temperature data, complemented by WMAP E-polarization measurements, as well as the recent BICEP2 observations of B-modes. Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data, including those from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, are also considered in the numerical analyses. We find that, in the minimal ADM scenario, the full dataset implies that the axion mass m_a = 82.2 pm 1.1 μeV (corresponding to th…
We discuss the electroweak quintessence axion as a candidate for dark energy, taking into account observational as well as quantum-gravity constraints.
The axion arises in well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and is regarded as an alternative to the weakly interacting massive particle paradigm to explain the nature of dark matter. In this contribution, we review theoretical aspects of dark matter axions, particularly focusing on recent developments in the estimation of their relic abundance. A closer look at their non-thermal production mechanisms in the early universe reveals the possibility of explaining the observed dark matter abundance in various mass ranges. The mass ranges predicted in various cosmologica…
The cosmological scenario where the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken after inflation is investigated. In this scenario, topological defects such as strings and domain walls produce a large number of axions, which contribute to the cold dark matter of the universe. The previous estimations of the cold dark matter abundance are updated and refined based on the field-theoretic simulations with improved grid sizes. The possible uncertainties originated in the numerical calculations are also discussed. It is found that axions can be responsible for the cold dark matter in the mass range $m_a=(0.8-1.…
The axion not only solves the strong CP puzzle, but it also may be the main constituent of cold dark matter. We review the axion dark matter predictions for the case that the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is restored after inflation.
We discuss the idea that the model-independent (MI) axion of string theory is the source of quintessential dark energy. The scenario is completed with a composite QCD axion from hidden sector squark condensation that could serve as dark matter candidate. The mechanism relies on the fact that the hidden sector anomaly contribution to the composite axion is much smaller than the QCD anomaly term. This intuitively surprising scenario is based on the fact that below the hidden sector scale $Λ_h$ there are many light hidden sector quarks. Simply, by counting engineering dimensions the hidden sector…
Current techniques cannot detect axion dark matter over much of its parameter space, particularly in the theoretically well-motivated region where the axion decay constant f_a lies near the GUT and Planck scales. We suggest a novel experimental method to search for QCD axion dark matter in this region. The axion field oscillates at a frequency equal to its mass when it is a component of dark matter. These oscillations induce time varying CP-odd nuclear moments, such as electric dipole and Schiff moments. The coupling between internal atomic fields and these nuclear moments gives rise to time v…
We discuss current cosmological constraints on axions, as well as future sensitivities. Bounds on axion hot dark matter are discussed first, and subsequently we discuss both current and future sensitivity to models in which axions play the role as cold dark matter, but where the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is not restored during reheating.
It was shown in ref. [1] that cold dark matter axions reach thermal contact with baryons, and therefore cool them, shortly after the axions thermalize among themselves and form a Bose-Einstein condensate. The recent observation by the EDGES collaboration of a baryon temperature at cosmic dawn lower than expected under "standard" assumptions is interpreted as new evidence that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. Baryon cooling by dark matter axions is found to be consistent with the observation of baryon acoustic oscillations.
We show that the inclusion of an axion-like effective potential in the construction of a self-gravitating system made of scalar fields leads to a decrease on its compactness when the value of the self-interaction coupling constant is increased. By including the current values for the axion mass m and decay constant f_a, we have computed the mass and the radius for self-gravitating systems made of axion particles. It is found that such objects will have asteroid-size masses and radius of few meters, then, the self-gravitating system made of axions could play the role of scalar mini-machos that …
Axion--photon interactions can lead to an enhancement of the electromagnetic field by parametric resonance in the presence of a cold axion background, for modes with a frequency close to half the axion mass. In this paper, we study the role of the axion momentum dispersion as well as the effects of a background gravitational potential, which can detune the resonance due to gravitational redshift. We show, by analytical as well as numerical calculations, that the resonance leads to an exponential growth of the photon field only if (a) the axion momentum spread is smaller than the inverse resona…
Axion as a coherently oscillating massive scalar field is known to behave as a zero-pressure irrotational fluid with characteristic quantum stress on a small scale. In relativistic perturbation theory, the case was proved in the axion-comoving gauge up to fully nonlinear and exact order. Our basic assumption is that the field is oscillating with Compton frequency and the Compton wavelength is smaller than the horizon scale. Here, we revisit the relativistic proof to the linear order in the other gauge conditions. We show that the same equation for density perturbation known in the non-relativi…
An argument is presented that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. It has three steps. First, axions behave differently from the other forms of cold dark matter because they form a rethermalizing Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Second, there is a tool to distinguish axion BEC from the other dark matter candidates on the basis of observation, namely the study of the inner caustics of galactic halos. Third, the observational evidence for caustic rings of dark matter is consistent in every aspect with axion BEC, but not with the other proposed forms of dark matter.
We find that the adiabatic fluctuations produced in the primordial plasma by cosmological inflation resonantly excite the axion field during the QCD phase transition by pumping axions from low momentum modes to modes with momentum up to of order $\sqrt{3} m$ where $m$ is the axion mass. We derive the momentum distribution of the excited axions. The fraction of cold axions that get excited is of order one if the axion mass is larger than a few $μ$eV. The effect occurs whether inflation happens before or after the Peccei-Quinn phase transition.
A non-negligible fraction of the QCD axion dark matter may form gravitationally bound Bose Einstein condensates, which are commonly known as axion stars or axion clumps. Such astrophysical objects have been recently proposed as the cause for the single candidate event reported by Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) microlensing search in the Andromeda galaxy. Depending on the breaking scale of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry and the details of the dark matter scenario, QCD axion clumps may form via gravitational condensation during radiation domination, in the dense core of axion miniclusters, or within …
Relativistic axions are good candidates for the dark radiation for which there are mounting observational hints. The primordial decays of heavy fields produce axions which are ultra-energetic compared to thermalised matter and inelastic axion-matter scattering can occur with $E_{CoM} \gg T_γ$, thus accessing many interesting processes which are otherwise kinematically forbidden in standard cosmology. Axion-photon scattering into quarks and leptons during BBN affects the light element abundances, and bounds on overproduction of $^4$He constrain a combination of the axion decay constant and the …
The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant $f_a \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ GeV (or higher). We introduce a new cosmological origin for axion dark matter, parametric resonance from oscillations of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field, that requires $f_a \sim (10^8 -10^{11})$ GeV. The axions may be warm enough to give deviations from cold dark matter in Large Scale Structure.
Dark matter constitutes about $23\%$ of the total energy density of the universe but its properties are still little known besides that it should be composed by cold and weakly interacting particles. Many beyond standard model theories can provide proper candidates to serve as dark matter and the axion introduced to solve the strong CP problem turns out to be an attractive one. In this paper, we briefly review several important features of the axion and the axion dark matter.
Axions and axion like particles are very attractive dark matter candidates. In this review, we briefly investigate how the cosmological observations reveal the existence of dark matter and some unique properties of axions/axion like particles which make them more interesting.
We study the evolution of axions interacting with primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) starting just from the QCD phase transition in the expanding universe. This interaction is owing to the Primakoff effect. Adopting the zero mode approximation for axions, we derive the system of equations for axions and magnetic fields, where the expansion of the universe and the spectra of magnetic fields are accounted for exactly. We find that the contribution of the Primakoff effect to the dynamics of axions and magnetic fields is rather weak. It confirms some previous estimates leading to analogous conclusi…
Ultralight axions are theoretically interesting and phenomenologically rich dark sector candidates, but they are difficult to track across cosmological timescales because of their fast oscillations. We resolve this problem by developing a novel method to evolve them efficiently and accurately. We first construct an exact effective fluid which at late times matches the axion but which evolves in a simple way. We then approximate this evolution with a carefully chosen equation of state and sound speed. With our scheme we find that we can obtain subpercent accuracy for the linear theory suppressi…
We review the current status of axions as dark matter. Motivation, models, constraints and experimental searches are outlined. The axion remains an excellent candidate for the dark matter and future experiments, particularly the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX), will cover a large fraction of the axion parameter space.
The misalignment mechanism allows for the efficient, and usually very cold, production of light scalar bosons, such as axion-like particles (ALPs), making them an appealing dark matter candidate. However, in certain cases, such as in the presence of a monodromy, the self-interactions of ALPs can be sufficiently strong such that the homogeneous field fragments soon after the onset of oscillations. The resulting large inhomogeneities can lead to the production of gravitational waves (GWs). We investigate the nonlinear dynamics of fragmentation, as well as of the subsequent turbulent regime, and …
We study the extent to which the decay of cold dark matter axions can be probed with forthcoming radio telescopes such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). In particular we focus on signals arising from dwarf spheroidal galaxies, where astrophysical uncertainties are reduced and the expected magnetic field strengths are such that signals arising from axion decay may dominate over axion-photon conversion in a magnetic field. We show that with $\sim100$ hours of observing time, SKA could improve current sensitivity by a factor of about five.
Non-relativistic QCD axions or axion-like particles are among the most popular candidates for cold Dark Matter (DM) in the universe. We proposed to detect axion-like DM, using linearly polarized pulsar light as a probe. Because of birefringence effect potentially caused by an oscillating galactic axion DM background, when pulsar light travels across the galaxy, its linear polarization angle may vary with time. With a soliton+NFW galactic DM density profile, we show that this strategy can potentially probe an axion-photon coupling as small as $\sim 10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$ for axion mass $m_a \sim …
