Dilute axion stars converting to photons in the Milky Way’s magnetic field

A. Kyriazis (Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA)

In this paper we examine the possibility of dilute axion stars converting to photons in the weak, large-scale magnetic field of the Milky Way and show that they can resonate with the surrounding plasma and produce a sizable signal. We consider two possibilities for the plasma: free electrons and HII regions. In the former case, we argue that the frequency of the photons will be too small to be observed even by space-based radio telescopes. In the latter case, their frequency is larger, safely above the solar wind cut-off. We provide an estimate of the flux as a function of the decay constant and show that for f a < 2 × 1011 GeV, the signal will be above the radio emission of the solar system’s planets and it could potentially be detected by the NCLE instrument which is on board the Chang’e-4 spacecraft. Finally, we calculate the time scale of decay of the axion star and demonstrate that back-reaction can be neglected for all physically interesting values of the decay constant, while the minimum time scale of decay is in the order of a few hours.

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      "value": "In this paper we examine the possibility of dilute axion stars converting to photons in the weak, large-scale magnetic field of the Milky Way and show that they can resonate with the surrounding plasma and produce a sizable signal. We consider two possibilities for the plasma: free electrons and HII regions. In the former case, we argue that the frequency of the photons will be too small to be observed even by space-based radio telescopes. In the latter case, their frequency is larger, safely above the solar wind cut-off. We provide an estimate of the flux as a function of the decay constant and show that for f  a  &lt; 2 \u00d7 1011 GeV, the signal will be above the radio emission of the solar system\u2019s planets and it could potentially be detected by the NCLE instrument which is on board the Chang\u2019e-4 spacecraft. Finally, we calculate the time scale of decay of the axion star and demonstrate that back-reaction can be neglected for all physically interesting values of the decay constant, while the minimum time scale of decay is in the order of a few hours."
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Published on:
27 December 2023
Publisher:
Springer
Published in:
Journal of High Energy Physics , Volume 2023 (2023)
Issue 12
Pages 1-13
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2023)164
arXiv:
2307.11872
Copyrights:
The Author(s)
Licence:
CC-BY-4.0

Fulltext files: