The gravitational field of a clump of ultralight axion like particles (ALPs) in its core with a rotating binary system of dwarf stars is computed. It is established that the induced quadrupole mass moment of the clump is controlled parametrically by the $M_a/M$ mass ratio of the axion clump and the the binary core.
It has been shown that the shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs can be a powerful tool to check for the possible existence of DFSZ-axions. In particular, Isern et al. (2008) showed that, if the axion mass is of the order of a few meV, then the white dwarf luminosity function is sensitive enough to detect their existence. For axion masses of about $m_a > 5$ meV the axion emission can be a primary cooling mechanism for the white dwarf and the feedback of the axion emission into the thermal structure of the white dwarf needs to be considered. Here we present computations of white dwar…
Axions are the natural consequence of the introduction of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry to solve the strong CP problem. All the efforts to detect such elusive particles have failed up to now. Nevertheless, it has been recently shown that the luminosity function of white dwarfs is best fitted if axions with a mass of a few meV are included in the evolutionary calculations. Our aim is to show that variable white dwarfs can provide additional and independent evidence about the existence of axions. The evolution of a white dwarf is a slow cooling process that translates into a secular increase of the …
The Peccei-Quinn mechanism proposed to solve the CP problem of Quantum Chromodynamics has as consequence the existence of axions, hypothetical weakly interacting particles whose mass is constrained to be on the sub-eV range. If these particles exist and interact with electrons, they would be emitted from the dense interior of white dwarfs, becoming an important energy sink for the star. Due to their well known physics, white dwarfs are good laboratories to study the properties of fundamental particles such as the axions. We study the general effect of axion emission on the evolution of helium-…
White dwarfs are almost completely degenerate objects that cannot obtain energy from the thermonuclear sources and their evolution is just a gravothermal process of cooling. The simplicity of these objects, the fact that the physical inputs necessary to understand them are well identified, although not always well understood, and the impressive observational background about white dwarfs make them the most well studied Galactic population. These characteristics allow to use them as laboratories to test new ideas of physics. In this contribution we discuss the robustness of the method and its a…
Polarization measurements of thermal radiation from magnetic white dwarf (MWD) stars have been proposed as a probe of axion-photon mixing. The radiation leaving the surface of the MWD is unpolarized, but if low-mass axions exist then photons polarized parallel to the direction of the MWD's magnetic field may convert into axions, which induces a linear polarization dependent on the strength of the axion-photon coupling $g_{aγγ}$. We model this process by using the formalism of axion-photon mixing in the presence of strong-field vacuum birefringence to show that of all stellar types MWDs are the…
White dwarfs are almost completely degenerate objects that cannot obtain energy from thermonuclear sources, so their evolution is just a gravothermal cooling process. Recent improvements in the accuracy and precision of the luminosity function and in pulsational data of variable white dwarfs suggest that they are cooling faster than expected from conventional theory. In this contribution we show that the inclusion of an additional cooling term due to axions able to interact with electrons with a coupling constant g_ae ~(2-7)x10^{-13} allows to fit better the observations.
It has been shown that the shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDLF) is a powerful tool to check for the possible existence of DFSZ-axions, a proposed but not yet detected type of weakly interacting particles. With the aim of deriving new constraints on the axion mass, we compute in this paper new theoretical WDLFs on the basis of WD evolving models that incorporate for the feedback of axions on the thermal structure of the white dwarf. We find that the impact of the axion emission into the neutrino emission can not be neglected at high luminosities ($M_{\rm Bol}\lesssim 8$) and …
The shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDLF) is sensitive to the characteristic cooling time and, therefore, it can be used to test the existence of additional sources or sinks of energy such as those predicted by alternative physical theories. However, because of the degeneracy between the physical properties of white dwarfs and the properties of the Galaxy, the star formation history (SFH) and the IMF, it is almost always possible to explain any anomaly as an artifact introduced by the star formation rate. To circumvent this problem there are at least two possibilities, the an…
Pulsating white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich atmospheres, also known as DAV stars, can be used as astrophysical laboratories to constrain the properties of fundamental particles like axions. Comparing the measured cooling rates of these stars with the expected values from theoretical models allows us to search for sources of additional cooling due to the emission of weakly interacting particles. In this paper, we present an independent inference of the mass of the axion using the recent determination of the evolutionary cooling rate of R548, the DAV class prototype. We employ a state-of-the-art c…
White dwarf (WD) stars may radiate keV-energy axions produced in their stellar cores. This has been extensively studied as an extra channel by which WDs may cool, with some analyses even suggesting that axions can help explain the observed WD luminosity function. We show that the radiated axions may convert into X-rays in the strong magnetic fields surrounding the WDs, leading to observable X-ray signatures. We use Suzaku observations of the WD RE J0317-853 to set the strongest constraints to date on the combination of the axion-electron ($g_{aee}$) times axion-photon ($g_{aγγ}$) couplings, an…
In the present work we study possible time signatures Axion Dark Matter searches employing resonant cavities for various halo models. We study in particular the time dependence of the resonance width (modulation) and possible asymmetries in directional experiments.
Using thermal field theory methods, we recalculate axion emission from dense plasmas. We study in particular the Primakoff and the bremsstrahlung processes. The Primakoff rate is significantly suppressed at high densities, when the electrons become relativistic. However, the bound on the axion-photon coupling, $G<10^{-10}$ GeV, is unaffected, as it is constrained by the evolution of HB stars, which have low densities. In contradistinction, the same relativistic effects enhance the bremsstrahlung processes. From the red giants and white dwarfs evolution, we obtain a conservative bound on the ax…
Ultralight axions with axion-photon couplings $g_{aγγ} \sim {\rm few} \times 10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$ may resolve a number of astrophysical anomalies, such as unexpected ~TeV transparency, anomalous stellar cooling, and X-ray excesses from nearby neutron stars. We show, however, that such axions are severely constrained by the non-observation of X-rays from the magnetic white dwarf (MWD) RE J0317-853 using ~40 ks of data acquired from a dedicated observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Axions may be produced in the core of the MWD through electron bremsstrahlung and then convert to X-rays …
Axion as one of the promising dark matter candidates can be detected through narrow radio lines emitted from the magnetic white dwarf stars. Due to the existence of the strong magnetic field, the axion may resonantly convert into the radio photon (Primakoff effect) when it passes through a narrow region in the corona of the magnetic white dwarf, where the plasma frequency is equal to the axion mass. We show that for the magnetic white dwarf WD 2010+310, the future experiment SKA phase 1 with 100 hours of observation can effectively probe the parameter space of the axion-photon coupling $g_{aγ}…
We discuss the sensitivity of the present and near-future axion dark matter experiments to a halo of axions or axion-like particles gravitationally bound to the Earth or the Sun. The existence of such halos, assuming they are formed, renders a significant gain in the sensitivity of axion searches while satisfying all the present experimental bounds. The structure and coherence properties of these halos also imply novel signals, which can depend on the latitude or orientation of the detector. We demonstrate this by analysing the sensitivity of several distinct types of axion dark matter experim…
If the dark matter is made of ultra-light axions, stable solitonic cores form at the centers of virialized halos. In some range for the mass $m$ of the axion particle, these cores are sufficiently compact and can mimic supermassive black holes (SMBH) residing at galactic nuclei. We use the solitonic core--halo mass relation, validated in numerical simulations, to constrain a new range of allowed axion mass from measurements of the SMBH mass in (pseudo)bulge and bulgeless galaxies. These limits are based on observations of galactic nuclei on scales smaller than 10 pc. Our analysis suggests that…
We consider the design of a haloscope experiment (ORGAN) to probe for axions at 26.6 GHz. The motivation for this search is to perform the first direct test of a result which claims a possible axion signal at this frequency. There are many technical issues and optimisations that must be considered in the design of a high mass axion haloscope. We discuss the current status of the ORGAN experiment, as well as its future. We also discuss low mass axion haloscopes employing lumped 3D LC resonators.
Axions are possible candidates of dark matter in the present Universe. They have been argued to form axionic boson stars with small masses $10^{-14}M_{\odot}\sim 10^{-11}M_{\odot}$. Since they possess oscillating electric fields in a magnetic field, they dissipate their energies in magnetized conducting media such as white dwarfs or neutron stars. At the same time the oscillating electric fields generate a monochromatic radiation with energy equal to mass of the axion. We argue that the effect of the energy dissipation can be seen in the old white dwarfs. In particular, We show that colliding …
We explore how the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axion parameter space can be constrained by the frequency-dependence dimming of radiation from astrophysical objects. To do so we perform accurate calculations of photon-axion conversion in the presence of a variable magnetic field. We propose several tests where the PQ axion parameter space can be explored with current and future astronomical surveys: the observed spectra of isolated neutron stars, occultations of background objects by white dwarfs and neutron stars, the light curves of eclipsing binaries containing a white dwarf. We find that the lack of …
If dark matter is mainly composed of axions, the density distribution can be nonuniformly distributed, being clumpy instead. By solving the Einstein-Klein-Gordon system of a scalar field with the potential energy density of an axionlike particle, we obtain the maximum mass of the self-gravitating system made of axions, called axion stars. The collision of axion stars with neutron stars may release the energy of axions due to the conversion of axions into photons in the presence of the neutron star's magnetic field. We estimate the energy release and show that it should be much less than previo…
New axion bounds derived from the 100-parsec Gaia DR3 white dwarf luminosity function
Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas（拉普拉塔天体物理研究所，阿根廷国家科学研究委员会）；Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata（拉普拉塔国立大学天文与地球物理学院）；Departament de Física, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya（加泰罗尼亚理工大学物理系）；Department of Theoretical Physics, CERN（欧洲核子研究组织理论物理部）；Dipartimento di Fisica, “Sapienza” Università di Roma & Sezione INFN Roma1（罗马第一大学物理系及意大利国家核物理研究所罗马一分部）；Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所粒子物理与天体物理学系）
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.
We explore finite size 3D effects in open axion haloscopes such as a dish antenna, a dielectric disk and a minimal dielectric haloscope consisting of a mirror and one dielectric disk. Particularly dielectric haloscopes are a promising new method for detecting dark matter axions in the mass range above $40\,μ{\rm eV}$. By using two specialized independent approaches - based on finite element methods and Fourier optics - we compute the electromagnetic fields in these settings expected in the presence of an axion dark matter field. This allows us to study diffraction and near field effects for re…
The energy loss rate of a magnetized electron gas emitting axions a due to the process $e^- \to e^- +a$ is derived for arbitrary magnetic field strength B. Requiring that for a strongly magnetized neutron star the axion luminosity is smaller than the neutrino luminosity we obtain the bound $g_{ae}\lsim 10^{-10}$ for the axion electron coupling constant. This limit is considerably weaker than the bound derived earlier by Borisov and Grishina using the same method. Applying a similar argument to magnetic white dwarf stars results in the more stringent bound $g_{ae}\lsim 9x10^{-13} (T/10^7 K)^{5/…
The evolution of white dwarfs can be described as a simple cooling process. Recently, it has been possible to determine with an unprecedented precision their luminosity function, that is, the number of stars per unit volume and luminosity interval. Since the shape of the bright branch of this function is only sensitive to the average cooling rate, we use this property to check the possible existence of axions, a proposed but not yet detected weakly interacting particle. We show here that the inclusion of the axion emissivity in the evolutionary models of white dwarfs noticeably improves the ag…
Axion-like particles (ALPs), a class of pseudoscalars common to many extensions of the Standard Model, have the capacity to drain energy from the interiors of stars. Consequently, stellar evolution can be used to derive many constraints on ALPs. We study the influence that keV-MeV scale ALPs which interact exclusively with photons can exert on the helium-burning shells of asymptotic giant branch stars, the late-life evolutionary phase of stars with initial masses less than $8M_{\odot}$. We establish the sensitivity of the final stellar mass to such energy-loss for ALPs with masses currently pe…
Axions are possible candidates of dark matter in the present Universe. They have been argued to form axionic boson stars with small masses $\sim 10^{-12}M_{\odot}$. Since they possess oscillating electric fields in a magnetic field, they dissipate their energies in magnetized conducting media. We show that colliding with a magnetized white dwarf, the axionic boson stars dissipate their energies and heat the white dwarf. Consequently the white dwarf cooled sufficiently can emit detectable amount of radiations with the collision. Using a recent evaluation of the population of the white dwarfs as…
We study the underlying theory of dielectric haloscopes, a new way to detect dark matter axions. When an interface between different dielectric media is inside a magnetic field, the oscillating axion field acts as a source of electromagnetic waves, which emerge in both directions perpendicular to the surface. The emission rate can be boosted by multiple layers judiciously placed to achieve constructive interference and by a large transverse area. Starting from the axion-modified Maxwell equations, we calculate the efficiency of this new dielectric haloscope approach. This technique could poten…
Contents: 1. The strong CP problem 2. Dark matter axions 3. The cavity detector of galactic halo axions 4. Caustic rings in the density distribution of cold dark matter halos
The light pseudoscalar particle, dubbed the axion, borne out of the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem in QCD remains elusive. One avenue of inferring its existence is through its coupling to electromagnetic radiation. So far, laboratory experiments have dedicated all efforts to detect the axion in the mass range $10^{-6} < m_a < 10^{-3}$ eV with a photon-axion coupling strength $g_{aγγ} < 10^{-10}GeV^{-1}$, where the limits are derived from astrophysical considerations. In this study, we present a novel way of constraining $g_{aγγ}$ by looking at the level of linear polarization i…
Contents: 1. The strong CP problem 2. Dark matter axions 3. The cavity detector of galactic halo axions 4. The phase space structure of cold dark matter halos
We propose a new strategy to search for dark matter axions in the mass range of 40--400 $μ$eV by introducing dielectric haloscopes, which consist of dielectric disks placed in a magnetic field. The changing dielectric media cause discontinuities in the axion-induced electric field, leading to the generation of propagating electromagnetic waves to satisfy the continuity requirements at the interfaces. Large-area disks with adjustable distances boost the microwave signal (10--100 GHz) to an observable level and allow one to scan over a broad axion mass range. A sensitivity to QCD axion models is…
We considered recently as a new axion production mechanism the process $e^- \to e^- +a$ in a strong magnetic field $B$. Requiring that for a strongly magnetized neutron star the axion luminosity is smaller than the neutrino luminosity we obtained the bound $g_{ae} \lsim 10^{-10}$ for the axion electron coupling constant. This limit is considerably weaker than the bound derived earlier by Borisov and Grishina using the same method. Applying a similar argument to magnetic white dwarf stars we obtained $g_{ae}\lsim 9 \cdot 10^{-13} (T/10^7)^{5/4} (B/10^{10})^{-2}$, where $T$ is the internal tempe…
We explore consequences of the idea that the cooling speed of white dwarfs can be interpreted in terms of axion emission. In this case the Yukawa coupling to electrons has to be g_{ae} 10^-13, corresponding to an axion mass of a few meV. Axions then provide only a small fraction of the cosmic cold dark matter, whereas core-collapse supernovae release a large fraction of their energy in the form of axions. We estimate the diffuse supernova axion background (DSAB) in the universe, consisting of 30 MeV-range axions with a radiation density comparable to the extra-galactic background light. The DS…
As a well-motivated dark matter candidate, axions can be detected through the axion-photon resonant conversion in the magnetospheres of magnetic white dwarf stars or neutron stars. In this work, we utilize Omega Centauri, which is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way and is suggested to be the remnant core of a dwarf galaxy, to probe the axion dark matter through radio signals that originate from all the neutron stars and magnetic white dwarf stars in it. With 100 hours of observation, the combination of SKA phase 1 and LOFAR can effectively probe the parameter space of the axion-phot…
In the context of structure formation with ultralight axion dark matter, we offer an alternative explanation for the mass relation of solitonic cores and their host halos observed in numerical simulations. Our argument is based entirely on the mass gain that occurs during major mergers of binary cores and largely independent of the initial core-halo mass relation assigned to hosts that have just collapsed. We find a relation between the halo mass $M_h$ and corresponding core mass $M_c$, $M_c\propto M_h^{2β-1}$, where $(1-β)$ is the core mass loss fraction. Following the evolution of core masse…
Axion physics is briefly reviewed. Constraints from laboratory searches, astrophysics and cosmology require the axion mass to be in the range $10^{-6} \lesssim m_a < 3\cdot 10^{-3}$eV. Near the lower end of this range, axions are all or a major component of the cold dark matter of the universe. The late infall of axions, and of any other cold dark matter particles, onto our galaxy produces streams and caustics in its halo. The outer caustics are topological spheres whereas the inner caustics are rings. The self-similar model of galactic halo formation predicts that the caustic ring radii $a_n$…
We present a complete halo model for mixed dark matter composed of cold dark matter (CDM) and ultralight axion-like particles (ULAs). Our model treats ULAs as a biased tracer of CDM, in analogy to treatments of massive neutrinos and neutral hydrogen. The model accounts for clustering of ULAs around CDM host halos, and fully models the cross correlations of both components. The model inputs include the ULA Jeans scale, and soliton density profile. Our model can be used to predict the matter power spectrum, $P(k)$, on non-linear scales for sub-populations of ULAs across the mass range $10^{-33}\…
We study the directional effect of the expected axion dark matter signal in a resonant cavity of an axion haloscope detector, for cavity geometries not satisfying the condition that the axion de Broglie wavelength $λ_a$ is sufficiently larger than the cavity dimensions $L$ for a fully coherent conversion, i.e. $λ_a \gtrsim 2πL$. We focus on long thin cavities immersed in dipole magnets and find, for appropriately chosen cavity lengths, an O(1) modulation of the signal with the cavity orientation with respect the momentum distribution of the relic axion background predicted by the isothermal sp…
Cavity, lumped-circuit, and spin-based detection of axion dark matter: differences and similarities
Bilkent University（比尔肯特大学）；Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz（美因茨约翰内斯·古腾堡大学）；Helmholtz Institute Mainz（美因茨亥姆霍兹研究所）；GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH（德国重离子研究中心有限公司）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）；School of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University（北京大学物理学院及核物理与核技术国家重点实验室）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Mississippi（密西西比大学物理与天文学系）；University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；Department of Physics, California State University - East Bay（加州州立大学东湾分校物理系）
We consider a two-component dark matter halo (DMH) of a galaxy containing ultra-light axions (ULA) of different mass. The DMH is described as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in its ground state. In the mean-field (MF) limit we have derived the integro-differential equations for the spherically symmetrical wave functions of the two DMH components. We studied numerically the radial distribution of the mass density of ULA and constructed the parameters which could be used to distinguish between the two- and one-component DMH. We also discuss an interesting connection between the BEC MF ground st…
In contrast to WIMPs, light Dark Matter candidates have increasingly come under the focus of scientific interest. In particular the QCD axion is also able to solve other fundamental problems such as CP-conservation in strong interactions. Galactic axions, axion-like particles and hidden photons can be converted to photons at boundaries between materials of different dielectric constants under a strong magnetic field. Combining many such surfaces, one can enhance this conversion significantly using constructive interference and resonances. The proposed MADMAX setup containing 80 high dielectric…
A well-motivated class of dark matter candidates, including axions and dark photons, takes the form of coherent oscillations of a light bosonic field. If the dark matter couples to Standard Model states, it may be possible to detect it via absorptions in a laboratory target. Current experiments of this kind include cavity-based resonators that convert bosonic dark matter to electromagnetic fields, operating at microwave frequencies. We propose a new class of detectors at higher frequencies, from the infrared through the ultraviolet, based on the dielectric haloscope concept. In periodic photon…
The Ultra-Light Axion (ULA) is a dark matter candidate with mass $\mathcal{O}(10^{-22})$eV and de Broglie wavelength of order kpc. Such an axion, also called the Fuzzy Dark Matter (FDM), thermalizes via the gravitational force and forms a Bose-Einstein condensate. Recent studies suggested that the quantum pressure from the FDM can significantly affect the structure formation in small scales, thus alleviating the so-called "small-scale crisis". In this paper, we develop a new technique to discretize the quantum pressure and illustrate the interactions among FDM particles in the $N$-body simulat…
