Gravitational Waves and Possible Fast Radio Bursts from Axion Clumps
Sichun Sun, Yun-Long Zhang
备注：
8 pages, 7 figures. v2: references updated. v2: 10 pages, 9 figures, updated discussion on the relation between different CS couplings at one-loop level. Matching with the accepted version
The axion objects such as axion mini-clusters and axion clouds around spinning black holes induce parametric resonances of electromagnetic waves through the axion-photon interaction. In particular, it has been known that the resonances from the axion with the mass around $10^{-6}$eV may explain the observed fast radio bursts (FRBs). Here we argue that similar bursts of high frequency gravitational waves, which we call the fast gravitational wave bursts (FGBs), are generated from axion clumps with the presence of gravitational Chern-Simons (CS) coupling. The typical frequency is half of the axion mass, which in general can range from kHz to GHz. We also discuss the secondary gravitational wave production associated with FRB, as well as the possible host objects of the axion clouds, such as primordial black holes with typical masses around $10^{-5}M_{\odot}$. Future detections of FGBs together with the observed FRBs are expected to provide more evidence for the axion.
Axion is a popular candidate for dark matter particles. Axionic dark matter may form Bose-Einstein condensate and may be gravitationally bound to form axion clumps. Under the presence of electromagnetic waves with frequency $ω=m_{a}/2$, where $m_{a}$ is the axion mass, a resonant enhancement may occur, causing an instability of the axion clumps. With analytical and numerical approaches, we study the resonant instability of axionic dark matter clumps with infinite homogeneous mass distribution, as well as distribution with a finite boundary. After taking realistic astrophysical environments int…
The QCD axion and an axion-like particle (ALP) are compelling candidates of dark matter. For the QCD axion, it is known that when the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is spontaneously broken after inflation, the large initial fluctuation can lead to axion clump formation. On the other hand, when the symmetry is already broken during inflation, it has been believed that the axion clump formation does not occur due to the small amplitude of the initial axion fluctuation. We revisit this prevailing understanding, considering both the QCD axion and an ALP. We find that for the QCD axion, the clump forma…
The QCD axion acquires the potential through the non-perturbative effect of the QCD matters around the QCD phase transition. During this period, the direct interaction between the axion and the QCD matters sets in. Focusing on the impact of this direct interaction, we propose two scenarios where the fluctuation of the axion can rapidly grow, potentially leading to the formation of axion miniclusters even if the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry was already broken during inflation. The first scenario assumes that the primordial curvature perturbation at the horizon scale during the QCD epoch was signi…
Recently there has been interest in the physical properties of dark matter axion condensates. Due to gravitational attraction and self-interactions, they can organize into spatial localized clumps, whose properties were examined by us in Refs. [1, 2]. Since the axion condensate is coherently oscillating, it can conceivably lead to parametric resonance of photons, leading to exponential growth in photon occupancy number and subsequent radio wave emission. We show that while resonance always exists for spatially homogeneous condensates, its existence for a spatially localized clump condensate de…
A fraction of light scalar dark matter, especially axions, may organize into Bose-Einstein condensates, gravitationally bound clumps, "boson stars", and be present in large number in galactic halos today. We compute the expected number of gravitational microlensing events of clumps composed of the ordinary QCD axion and axion-like-particles and derive microlensing constraints from the EROS-2 survey and the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam observation. We perform a detailed lensing calculation, including the finite lens and source size effects in our analysis. We constrain the axion mass in terms of th…
Axions and axion-like particles (ALPs) are some of the best-motivated dark matter (DM) candidates. Under certain circumstances, large axion fluctuations in the early universe can collapse to form dense configurations called axion clumps. The densest axion clumps are metastable states known as oscillons. In this paper we propose a new class of observables that exploit the axion's coupling to photons. As a result of this coupling an axion clump acts like an inhomogeneous refractive optical medium -- a lens -- that causes anomalous dispersion of incident electromagnetic waves. The dispersion of e…
Gravitationally bound clumps of dark matter axions in the form of 'miniclusters' or even denser 'axion stars' can generate strong radio signals through axion-photon conversion when encountering highly magnetised neutron star magnetospheres. We systematically study encounters of axion clumps with neutron stars and characterise the axion infall, conversion and the subsequent propagation of the photons. We show that the high density and low escape velocity of the axion clumps lead to strong, narrow, and temporally characteristic transient radio lines with an expected duration varying from seconds…
A portion of light scalar dark matter, especially axions, may organize into gravitationally bound clumps (stars) and be present in large number in the galaxy today. It is therefore of utmost interest to determine if there are novel observational signatures of this scenario. Work has shown that for moderately large axion-photon couplings, such clumps can undergo parametric resonance into photons, for clumps above a critical mass $M^{\star}_c$ determined precisely by some of us in Ref. [1]. In order to obtain a clump above the critical mass in the galaxy today would require mergers. In this work…
We study the propagation of light in the presence of a parity-violating coupling between photons and axion-like particles (ALPs). Naively, this interaction could lead to a split of light rays into two separate beams of different polarization chirality and with different refraction angles. However, by using the eikonal method we explicitly show that this is not the case and that ALP clumps do not produce any spatial birefringence. This happens due to non-trivial variations of the photon's frequency and wavevector, which absorb time-derivatives and gradients of the ALP field. We argue that these…
Recently there has been much interest in the spatial distribution of light scalar dark matter, especially axions, throughout the universe. When the local gravitational interactions between the scalar modes are sufficiently rapid, it can cause the field to re-organize into a BEC of gravitationally bound clumps. While these clumps are stable when only gravitation is included, the picture is complicated by the presence of the axion's attractive self-interactions, which can potentially cause the clumps to collapse. Here we perform a detailed stability analysis to determine under what conditions th…
Axion clumps in an external magnetic field can emit electromagnetic radiation which causes them to decay. In the presence of a plasma, such radiation can become resonant if the clump frequency matches the plasma frequency. Typically, the decay or back-reaction of the clump is ignored in the literature when analyzing such radiation. In this paper we present a self consistent, semi-analytic approach which captures axion back-reaction using energy conservation. We find that inclusion of back-reaction changes the clump frequency over time enabling clumps with a range of different initial frequenci…
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 …
We investigate the bursts of electromagnetic and scalar radiation resulting from the collision, and merger of oscillons made from axion-like particles using 3+1 dimensional lattice simulations of the coupled axion-gauge field system. The radiation into photons is suppressed before the merger. However, it becomes the dominant source of energy loss after the merger if a resonance condition is satisfied. Conversely, the radiation in scalar waves is dominant during initial merger phase but suppressed after the merger. The backreaction of scalar and electromagnetic radiation is included in our simu…
We show that fast radio bursts arise from collisions between axion stars and neutron stars. The bursts are emitted in the atmosphere of the neutron stars. The observed frequencies of the bursts are given by the axion mass $m_a$ such as $m_a/2π\simeq 1.4\,\mbox{GHz}\,\big(m_a/(6\times 10^{-6}\mbox{eV})\big)$. From the event rate $\sim 10^{-3}$ per year in a galaxy, we can determine the mass $\sim 10^{-11}M_{\odot}$ of the axion stars. Using these values we can explain short durations ( $\sim $ms ) and amount of radiation energies ( $\sim 10^{43}$GeV ) of the bursts.
The rate of energy exchange of spatially localized and gravitationally bound axion configurations with electromagnetic radiation is investigated in presence of strong static magnetic field. Fully analytic treatment is achieved based on variationally optimized separable spatio-temporal clump profiles. For dilute axion stars the equation of the energy variation is reinterpreted as a rate equation of the axion number. Its solutions hints to an asymptotic $\sim t^{1/5}$ increase of the clump size.
Rare astrophysical events - cosmological gamma-ray bursts with energies over GeV - are considered as an origin of information about some SUSY parameters. The model of generation of the powerful gamma-ray bursts is proposed. According to this model the gamma-ray burst represents as a result of the collapse and the total annihilation of the neutralino clump. About 80 % of the clump mass radiates during about 100 second at the final stage of annihilation. The annihilation spectrum and its characteristic energies are calculated in the framework of Split Higgsino model.
We study the radio signals generated when an axion star enters the magnetosphere of a neutron star. As the axion star moves through the resonant region where the plasma-induced photon mass becomes equal to the axion mass, the axions can efficiently convert into photons, giving rise to an intense, transient radio signal. We show that a dense axion star with a mass $\sim 10^{-13}M_{\odot}$ composed of $\sim 10\: μ$eV axions can account for most of the mysterious fast radio bursts.
Axions may make a significant contribution to the dark matter of the universe. It has been suggested that these dark matter axions may condense into localized clumps, called "axion stars." In this paper we argue that collisions of dilute axion stars with neutron stars, of the type known as "magnetars," may be the origin of most of the observed fast radio bursts. This idea is a variation of an idea originally proposed by Iwazaki. However, instead of the surface effect of Iwazaki, we propose a perhaps stronger volume effect caused by the induced time dependent electric dipole moment of neutrons.
Emission of relativistic axions from transient sources, such as axion star explosions, can lead to observable signatures. We show that axion bursts from collapsing axion stars can be detectable over the wide range of axion masses $10^{-15} \, \textrm{eV} \lesssim m \lesssim 10^{-7} \, \textrm{eV}$ in laboratory experiments, such as ABRACADABRA, DMRadio and SHAFT. The detection of axion bursts could provide new insights into the fundamental axion potential, which is challenging to probe otherwise. An ensemble of bursts in the distant past would give rise to a diffuse axion background distinct f…
We explore the possibility that the Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are powered by magnetic reconnection in magnetars, triggered by Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter. In this model, the magnetic reconnection is ignited by the shock wave which develops when the nuggets' Mach number $M \gg 1$. These shock waves generate very strong and very short impulses expressed in terms of pressure $Δp/p\sim M^2$ and temperature $ΔT/T\sim M^2$ in the vicinity of (would be) magnetic reconnection area. We find that the proposed mechanism produces a coherent emission which is consistent with current data, in partic…
A polarized gamma ray emission spread over a sufficiently wide energy band from a strongly magnetized astrophysical object like gamma ray bursts (GRBs) offers an opportunity to test the hypothesis of invisible axion. The axionic induced dichroism of gamma rays at different energies should cause a misalignment of the polarization plane for higher energy events relative to that one for lower energies events resulting in the loss of statistics needed to form a pattern of the polarization signal to be recognized in a detector. According to this, any evidence of polarized gamma rays coming from an …
Axion is a promising candidate of dark matter in the universe. A fraction of dark matter axion may forms axion star with radius $\sim 10^2$km. We show that the axion star emits radiation burst by the collision with K and M types main sequence star in the Andromeda Galaxy. The emission arises in the atmosphere of the star, in which electrons coherently oscillate due to oscillating electric field of the axion star. The electric field is produced under magnetic field $B$ of the star. We estimate the flux density of the radiation $\sim 1.6\times 10^{-3}\mbox{Jy} (10^{-12}M_{\odot}/M_a)^2(10^{-5}\m…
Fast radio bursts can be caused by some phenomena related to 'new physics'.One of the most prominent candidates of the kind are axion Bose stars which can engender bursts when undergoing conversion into photons in magnetospheres of neutron stars or during their collapse. In this short research note an importance of three observational criteria is outlined, namely total energetic, $\mathcal{O}$(ms) duration and non-monochromatic shape of the spectrum. It is shown that it is impossible to meet these criteria in simplified models of axion-neutron star interaction scenario and thorough investigati…
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…
A modification of the relation between axion mass and the PQ constant permits a relaxation of the astrophysical constraints, considerably enlarging the allowed axion parameter space. We develop this idea in this paper, discussing a model for an {\it ultramassive} axion, which essentially represents a supersymmetric Weinberg-Wilczek axion of the mirror world. The experimental and astrophysical limits allow a PQ scale f_a ~ 10^4-10^6 GeV and a mass m_a ~ 1MeV, which can be accessible for future experiments. On a phenomenological ground, such an {\it ultramassive} axion turns out to be quite inte…
Telescope Array (TA) experiment has recorded \cite{Abbasi:2017rvx,Okuda_2019} several short time bursts of air shower like events. These bursts are very distinct from conventional single showers, and are found to be strongly correlated with lightnings. In our previous work \cite{Zhitnitsky:2020shd} we proposed that these bursts represent the direct manifestation of the dark matter (DM) annihilation events within the so-called axion quark nugget (AQN) model. In the present work we suggest to test this proposal to search for the radio signals in frequency band $ν\in (0.5-200)$ MHz which must be …
The coupling between a pseudo-scalar inflaton and a gauge field leads to an amount of additional density perturbations and gravitational waves (GWs) that is strongly sensitive to the inflaton speed. This naturally results in enhanced GWs at (relatively) small scales that exited the horizon well after the CMB ones, and that can be probed by a variety of GW observatories (from pulsar timing arrays, to astrometry, to space-borne and ground-based interferometers). This production occurs in a regime in which the gauge field significantly backreacts on the inflaton motion. Contrary to earlier assump…
Detecting Extragalactic Axion-like Dark Matter with Polarization Measurements of Fast Radio Bursts
Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）
Axions are one of the most promising candidates of dark matter. The axions have been shown to form miniclusters with masses $\sim 10^{-12}M_{\odot}$ and to become dominant component of dark matter. Some of the axion miniclusters condense to form axion stars. We have recently shown a possible origin of fast radio bursts ( FRBs ) by assuming that the axion stars are main component of halos: FRBs arise from the collisions between the axion stars and neutron stars. It is remarkable that the masses of the axion stars obtained by the comparison of the theoretical and observational event rates are co…
We have proposed a model of non repeating fast radio bursts ( FRBs ); the collisions between axion stars and neutron stars generate the bursts. In this paper, we propose a model of repeating FRBs which shows that they arise from the several collisions between magnetized accretion disk of a black hole and an axion star orbiting the black hole. There would be many axions stars condensing as dark matter in an early stage galaxy so that such collisions arises repeatedly. The radiations are emitted by coherent oscillations of electrons in the accretion disk. The oscillations are caused by oscillati…
A polarized gamma ray emission spread over a sufficiently wide energy band from a strongly magnetized astrophysical object like gamma ray bursts (GRBs) offers an opportunity to test the hypothesis of axion like particles (ALPs). Based on evidences of polarized gamma ray emission detected in several gamma ray bursts we estimated the level of ALPs induced dichroism, which could take place in the magnetized fireball environment of a GRB. This allows to estimate the sensitivity of polarization measurements of GRBs to the ALP-photon coupling. This sensitivity $\gag\le 2.2\cdot 10^{-11} {\rm GeV^{-1…
By invoking small extra dimensions as a good energy bearer, a new scenario for understanding the origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), from both the bottom-up and the top-down viewpoints, is proposed. We explore the possibility of generating UHECRs via Kaluza-Klein (KK) bursts, a violent energy transfer from extra dimensions to ordinary dimensions through collisions between KK modes, in particular, within clumps of KK modes. The possible scales of these clumps range from the astronomical, e.g. KK stellar compact objects, to the microscopic, e.g. "KKonium". Advantages of this KK burs…
Telescope Array (TA) experiment has recorded \cite{Abbasi:2017rvx,Okuda_2019} several short time bursts of air shower like events. These bursts are very distinct from conventional single showers, and are found to be strongly correlated with lightnings. We propose that these bursts represent the direct manifestation of the dark matter annihilation events within the so-called axion quark nugget (AQN) model, which was originally invented for completely different purpose to explain the observed similarity between the dark and the visible components in the Universe, i.e. $Ω_{\rm DM}\sim Ω_{\rm visi…
The superradiant instability can lead to the generation of extremely dense axion clouds around rotating black holes. We show that, despite the long lifetime of the QCD axion with respect to spontaneous decay into photon pairs, stimulated decay becomes significant above a minimum axion density and leads to extremely bright lasers. The lasing threshold can be attained for axion masses $μ\gtrsim 10^{-8}\ \mathrm{eV}$, which implies superradiant instabilities around spinning primordial black holes with mass $\lesssim 0.01M_\odot$. Although the latter are expected to be non-rotating at formation, a…
During a core-collapse supernova (SN), axion-like particles (ALPs) could be produced through the Primakoff process and subsequently convert into gamma rays in the magnetic field of the Milky Way. Using a sample of well studied extragalactic SNe at optical wavelengths, we estimate the time of the core collapse and search for a coincident gamma-ray burst with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Under the assumption that at least one SN was contained within the LAT field of view, we exclude photon-ALP couplings within a factor of $\sim$5 of previous limits from SN1987A. With the increasing numb…
Photons couple to Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) or more generally to any pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson in the presence of an external electromagnetic field. Mixing between photons and ALPs in the strong magnetic field of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) jet during the prompt emission phase can leave observable imprints on the gamma-ray polarization and spectrum. Mixing in the intergalactic medium is not expected to modify these signatures for ALP mass > 10^(-14) eV and/or for < nG magnetic field. We show that the depletion of photons due to conversion to ALPs changes the linear degree of polarization from…
We present a solution of the Schrödinger-Poisson system based on the WKB ansatz for the wave function. In this way we obtain a description of a gravitationally bound clump of axion dark matter by a superposition of energy eigenstates with random phases. It can be applied to any self-consistent pair of radial density distribution and phase space density $f(E)$ related by Eddington's formula. We adopt this as a model for axion miniclusters in our galaxy and use it to study the mass loss due to a star encounter by using standard perturbation theory methods known from quantum mechanics. Finally, w…
The fast radio bursts ( FRBs ) are energetic radio bursts with millisecond duration only observed at radio frequencies. The generation mechanism is still mysterious. We have proposed a generation mechanism of both repeating and one-off FRBs. They arise from the axion star collision with neutron star or magnetized accretion disk of galactic black hole. Once we accept the existence of the axions, we find that the mechanism well explain previously observed spectral-temporal features. In this paper we show that it also explains recently observed phenomena such as downward drifting in the repeating…
Reappraisal of the Constraints on Heavy Axion-like Particles from Gamma-Ray Bursts
Washington University（华盛顿大学）；Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz（美因茨约翰内斯古腾堡大学）；SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究学院）；IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；INFN, Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；University of Johannesburg（约翰内斯堡大学）；The George Washington University（乔治华盛顿大学）
One of the most compelling candidates for Dark Matter (DM) are light pseudo-scalar particles (axions), motivated by the strong CP problem and axiverse scenario in string theory. Depending on their mass and type of self-interaction, these particles can build self-gravitating configurations such as compact objects, DM clumps or even galactic DM halos. On the other hand, superradiant instabilities can produce long-living extended configurations (scalar clouds) gravitating around Black Holes (BHs). As these scalars are real and harmonic, their interaction with the other matter components can induc…
Coherent oscillation of axions or axion-like particles may give rise to long-lived clumps, called axion stars, because of the attractive gravitational force or its self-interaction. Such a kind of configuration has been extensively studied in the context of oscillons without the effect of gravity, and its stability can be understood by an approximate conservation of particle number in a non-relativistic effective field theory (EFT). We extend this analysis to the case with gravity to discuss the longevity of axion stars and clarify the EFT expansion scheme in terms of gradient energy and Newto…
Experimental observations indicate that gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and high-energy neutrino bursts may travel at different speeds with a typical delay measured at the order of hours or days. We discuss two potential interpretations for the GRB delay: dispersion of light in interstellar medium and violation of Lorentz invariance due to quantum gravitational fluctuations. Among a few other media, we consider dispersion of light in an axion plasma, obtaining the axion plasma frequency and the dispersion relation from quantum field theory for the first time. We find that the density of axions inferred…
Superradiant instability turns rotating astrophysical black holes into unique probes of light axions. We consider what happens when a light axion is coupled to a strongly coupled hidden gauge sector. In this case superradiance results in an adiabatic increase of a hidden sector CP-violating $θ$-parameter in a near horizon region. This may trigger a first order phase transition in the gauge sector. As a result a significant fraction of a black hole mass is released as a cloud of hidden mesons and can be later converted into electromagnetic radiation. This results in a violent electromagnetic bu…
